Police end fight over pay deal

Rank-and-file leaders pledged to instead lobby MPs for binding independent arbitration over future negotiations.

Paul McKeever, Police Federation chairman, said officers wanted the right to take industrial action if a deal on arbitration could not be reached.

He said: "This is a route we do not want to go down but one we will follow if the Government continues to turn a blind eye to our fair and reasonable request for binding arbitration."

The move is the latest chapter in a row that exploded last year after the Government refused to backdate a 2.5% pay award.

Officers said the decision effectively reduced the rise to 1.9%, taking £200 out of every officer's pay and made a mockery of the independent arbitration process.

It led to a painful rift between 140,000 frontline police officers and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. In January more than 20,000 officers marched through Westminster to call for fair play on pay.

At the Police Federation annual conference last month, 86% of officers voted to lobby the Government for full industrial rights if arbitration is not made binding.

But a High Court bid to challenge the decision was turned down as a panel of judge's ruled Ms Smith had not acted unlawfully.

Mr McKeever said police have been let down by a weak Home Secretary and bullied by the Prime Minister over the past 10 months.