Smith under fire over police pay

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The home secretary has faced anger from Labour MPs over the decision not to pay in full a 2.5% pay rise for police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Keith Vaz, Labour chair of the home affairs committee, said MPs should be able to vote on Jacqui Smith's decision to award the rise in two stages.

Labour's Lindsay Hoyle said the move was "unacceptable and unpalatable". Andrew Mackinlay said it was "unfair".

But Ms Smith said it was her duty to ensure the award was affordable.

Some 205 MPs have signed Commons motions protesting that the rise should be paid in full.

'Dismay'

Mr Vaz said Ms Smith should put the matter before Parliament and allow members to vote on it "because this is such an important issue".

Mr Hoyle said: "Why is it that people fighting on the frontline are not getting it? It's unacceptable and unpalatable."

I had a responsibility to make a decision that was right for the police, for the affordability of policing and for the taxpayer as a whole Jacqui SmithHome Secretary

Mr Mackinlay said he was dismayed the minister was "going down this route".

It would not only cause "disproportionate offence to public servants" and "collateral damage" to the Labour government, but it was also "unfair", he said.

Tory Patrick Mercer said Ms Smith should join frontline police officers "to see exactly what the implications of this callous decision are".

Lib Dem John Leech asked if it was right that police officers were getting a smaller percentage pay increase than other police staff and police community support officers.

Ms Smith defended her decision not backdate the pay award. She insisted she had been out on frontline duty and had always been impressed by the dedication of staff to the job.

Strike threat

"I had a responsibility to make a decision that was right for the police, for the affordability of policing and for the taxpayer as a whole," she said.

She said a "pound allocated to policing cannot be spent twice".

"It is of course the case that in terms of pay awards negotiated for 2007 it's only the armed forces and junior doctors who have received a better pay award than police officers," she added.

Police officers were angered by the decision not to pay in one go the 2.5% pay rise agreed at arbitration.

Officers say awarding the rise in two parts amounts in real terms to an increase of 1.9%.

It prompted the Police Federation to call for Ms Smith to resign and for the organisation to say it will ballot members in 2008 on whether they want the right to strike.

Police officers across the UK are currently banned from taking industrial action.

Police Federation chairman Jan Berry has since said she believes Ms Smith was badly advised over the pay award, although she urges her once again to reconsider her decision.

The prime minister has said that the decision to stage public sector pay rises was necessary to keep inflation under control.