Police in protest rally over pay

An estimated 22,500 police officers have marched in central London in a protest over pay - reports the BBC.

Police are angry that a 2.5% pay rise was only backdated to 1 December for UK officers except for those in Scotland.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would have liked to pay more but it was part of the "fight against inflation" (yet inflating our spending on the EU by £2.5bn a year - or 63% - doesn't seem to worry him!).

Police Federation chairman Jan Berry held "constructive" talks with the home secretary, but said trust between the two sides needed to be rebuilt.

Police say the rise is effectively a 1.9% annual increase - unlike that in Scotland, where it has been backdated to 1 September.

The Police Federation, which represents officers up to the rank of Chief Inspector, has applied for a judicial review of the decision by ministers.

A rally at Central Hall in Westminster, consisting of 3,500 officers, was followed by Ms Berry presenting a petition to Downing Street and meeting home secretary.

Federation members will be balloted next month on whether to campaign for the right to strike.

The Home Office said the home secretary was grateful for the vital and hard work carried out by police officers.

"However, we also have a responsibility to ensure pay settlements take into account affordability and consistency with government pay policy, including the maintenance of low inflation," a spokesman said.

Yet somehow such requirements don't apply when it comes to the EU, where giving that audit-failing organisation an extra £2.5bn a year - a 63% increase, as opposed to the 1.9% pay rise the police are complaining about - is apparently 'affordable' and consistent with the 'maintenance of low inflation'.

What does this say about the government's priorities, and those of the MPs who voted to approve such a shocking waste of even more money on the EU rather than spending it on providing quality public services?

Certainly not one of those MPs, having voted to waste so much on the EU, can also claim to be backing the police. Though that doesn't seem to stop some of the most hypocritical trying.