More than 22,000 rank and file police officers marched through London to protest over their pay. Wearing matching white caps and holding placards which read "Fair Play for Police", the off-duty officers staged a good-natured walk through to Westminster. Britain's largest ever police demonstration was deeply embarrassing for the Government. It was organised by the Police Federation after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith refused to honour the findings of an independent arbitration tribunal to give police a 2.5 per cent pay rise. She backdated the rise to December instead of September, effectively making it worth only 1.9 per cent. The Federation has now applied for a judicial review of the decision.
Show of force: The marching bobbies wore white helmets demanding 'Fair pay for police' with an added 'l' to read 'Fair play'
The sea of police officers surges from Park Lane to Parliament Square, causing traffic delays in the capital
One of the 22,500 protesters, Met PC Stuart Reid, said: "It's not about the money. We can't strike and the arbitration is the only place we have a voice. The Government ignored that and went behind our backs. They have treated us with contempt."
The protest culminated in a rally addressed by Federation chairman Jan Berry, who said the Prime Minister had broken the bond of trust between the Government and police.
She later presented a petition to 10 Downing Street and met Miss Smith.
An officer's family joins him on the march in protest at a decision by the Home Secretary that police say cuts a pay rise from 2.5 to 1.9 per cent
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis told the rally: "The simple truth is that the police force is the victim of a betrayal of trust."
The chairman of the Commons' Home Affairs Select Committee, Labour MP Keith Vaz, who lodged an Early Day Motion backing police, received a standing ovation.
Others marching included the LibDem candidate for London Mayor, former Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick.
Mr Paddick said: "The police pay deal is a cynical attack on police officers because they cannot strike. These brave men and women put their lives on the line for us every day and they deserve to be treated fairly. "With Scottish police officers and all police support staff getting the full rise, all the arguments that the Home Secretary is using to restrict the police pay rise to 1.9 per cent are blown out of the water." Officers will be balloted next month to decide whether to demand the right to strike. It has been illegal for police to strike since the 1990s.
In the Commons Gordon Brown defended the pay award, saying: "There has been a 39 per cent rise in police pay over the last ten years."
And the official behind reducing the Police Pay deal gets a £10K bonus! 
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