Police officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the right to take industrial action — including the possibility of strikes — over pay.

In a national ballot, 86 per cent of officers said that they wanted the Police Federation to lobby for a change in the law that would given them "full industrial rights".

The vote was an overwhelming expression of rank-and-file anger over the Government's decision to ignore an arbitrated wage settlement and withhold part of the 2007 police pay rise.

More than 23,000 officers marched past the Home Office in January in protest against Jacqui Smith's decision to give the police a 1.9 per cent rise instead of the agreed 2.5 per cent.

The ballot result was announced by Jan Berry, chairwoman of the Police Federation, at the organisation's annual conference in Bournemouth today. Mrs Berry argued that the ballot was not a vote in favour of strike action but more militant voices in the federation disagree with her.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will face the 1,000 delegates tomorrow when she addresses conference.

Leaders of the federation have appealed for Ms Smith's appearance to be treated in an "honourable and respectful manner". But there are signs that she will have a rough ride on her first appearance before the rank and file conference.

Addressing the conference, Paul McKeever, chairman of the Sergeants' Committee, repeated calls for Ms Smith to resign. He said: "Jacqui Smith has to be admired for becoming the first female Home Secretary but she can't be admired for much more than that. It is clear that she has merely been the conduit for Gordon Brown's centrally controlled diktats. Sadly it appears that she is the Home Secretary in name only and that is bad for us and bad for the public."

Mr McKeever, who is standing for election as chairman of the 140,000-member Police Federation, also turned his fire on Gordon Brown, who he said was the "true architect of the pay debacle". He added: "Mr Brown seems to have difficulty understanding simple human dynamics such as cause and effect, in that when you treat people appallingly badly the effect is that they lose your respect and trust."

Federation leaders welcomed the result but their enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that just 46 per cent of members returned their ballot papers.

Last month the Scottish Police Federation conference backed a motion that could lead to future industrial action. Delegates, however, rejected a motion supporting strike action.

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