Police offer "olive branch" to Home Secretary

LONDON (Reuters) - The Police Federation offered an "olive branch" to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Monday, asking her to reconsider a decision over pay that has angered hundreds of thousands of officers.

Earlier this month the Federation, which represents 140,000 officers in England and Wales, called on Smith to resign and said it would ballot its members on whether they should overturn a ban preventing them from taking strike action.

But in an open letter, the Federation's chairman Jan Berry asked Smith to reconsider her decision not to backdate a 2.5 percent rise agreed by an independent arbitration panel as they had expected.

Police say this effectively cut the rise to 1.9 percent, which is far less than the rate of inflation, but will save the government an estimated 30 million pounds.

"I want to take this opportunity to offer an olive branch. It's not too late to change course and stop this situation escalating," Berry's letter said, warning that anger amongst officers was growing.

"You know the mood of police officers, the public and many of your political colleagues. I can assure you, we have no intention of letting this go."

Berry said Smith had received "ill informed and extremely naive" advice, adding that if she changed her mind she would restore her "honour".

The Home Office said Smith would meet Berry next month to try to find a "constructive way forward".

Since the row erupted, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted the government will not back down, saying the pay decision is in line with other public sector pay deals and was made in the national interest.