As 18,500 police officers take to the streets of London to deliver a petition to Downing Street, Wyre Forest's Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman offers his support. In December, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith proudly announced that police officers would see a 2.5% pay rise.
But in a break with convention - established under previous Conservative administrations as a compensation for the loss of the right to strike - the pay award was not backdated to the start of arbitration in September. This effectively means that the pay award was just 1.9%
Commenting on situation, Mark Garnier said:
"I am fully in support of the police on this matter. The police to an extremely dangerous and sensitive job to protect all of us, and the very least they deserve is the respect of the Home Secretary.
"Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has colluded with Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling to cheat police officers out of some of their pay rise. This is doubly dire as Scottish police officers (where Gordon Brown and Alistair darling are both members of Parliament) have been given the full back-dated pay award. I leave readers to draw their own conclusion as to why Brown and Darling have allowed Scottish police to be looked after properly.
"But, as they say, when you're in a hole: stop digging. Not so for the Labour Government. Gordon Brown has now declared that he is not backdating the pay award because he deems it 'inflationary'. But with backdating costing just £40 million, it seems that he Is prepared to talk any nonsense in order to cheat hardworking public servants out of their fair dues.
"Jacqui Smith, who as MP for Redditch, sees first hand the excellent work our own West Mercia Police do. She should hang her head in shame, apologise for her meanness, and pay up."
The devious moves by the Government on police pay comes after the Government treated nurses in a similar fashion.