English police lose out in great pay divide

The pay gap follows a deal - hammered out after independent arbitration - which would have given officers across Britain a 2.5 per cent annual rise.

While the Scottish administration will honour the agreement in full by backdating it to September, the Home Office is refusing to implement the rise until January - meaning that it effectively drops to 1.9 per cent.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was delaying the rise "in the interests of affordability, and Government policy on public sector pay".

But Police Federation chairman Jan Berry, representing rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, said: "Despite an 11th-hour appeal to the Home Secretary to change her mind, she has today confirmed to the 140,000 officers in England and Wales exactly what the Government thinks of them. The way my colleagues are being treated is absolutely disgusting."

She said she was "pleased" for officers in Scotland, adding: "Unlike the Home Office the Scottish administration has acted with honour.

"We are not going to take this lying down. If the Government want a fight, they have got a fight."

The North-South pay divide means that police salaries join a growing list of policy areas where Scots are better off than the English.

These include university tuition fees, NHS cancer drug prescription and free care for the elderly.

Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill denied he was trying to embarrass his English counterparts.

He said: "When governments and the staff associations enter into arbitration, they should agree to be bound by it. Otherwise, why go out to arbitration?" The Home Office also announced spending settlements for forces across England and Wales for next year, averaging a 2.7 per cent increase.

The Association of Police Authorities warned that such a "tight settlement" would pose a "considerable challenge" especially as Whitehall's curbs on council tax rises will stop forces topping up budgets from local authority revenue.