Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he'd stick with plans to restrain the pay of government workers after British police threatened to strike over their wage award.

The Police Federation representing forces from England and Wales today passed a vote of no confidence in Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and announced a ballot of members for strike action.

The moves came at an emergency meeting in London after the government decided not to backdate pay increase for the police to September. The decision, police say, effectively reduces the value of the raise to 1.9 percent from 2.5 percent.

``It is a very simple message -- we have no trust or confidence in the Home Secretary,'' Brian Stockham, chairman of Sussex Police Federation, said at a news conference. ``She has treated us with disdain and contempt.''

The government is attempting to limit wage increases to about 2 percent to control the budget deficit and avoid upward pressure on inflation. The Bank of England aims to keep consumer price gains to 2 percent a year.

``I would like more than anybody to be able to say to the police that we can pay their wages and salary rise in full,'' Brown said in response to a question in Parliament in London today. ``No policeman and no person across the country would thank us if their wages were wiped out by inflation.''

Asked if Brown has full confidence in the home Secretary, his spokesman, Michael Ellam, said, ``the answer is yes.''

Inflation Risks

Tony McNulty, a junior Home Office minister in charge of police, said the government needed to consider the implications for inflation of raising pay for all government workers, which include doctors, nurses and the military.

``We are wedded to a public sector pay policy across the whole of the public sector -- 40 million pounds ($82 million) here, 50 million pounds there, 60 million pounds elsewhere -- does add up to significant inflationary pressures,'' McNulty said in an interview on the BBC's Breakfast program. ``I have enormous respect for the police, but we do need to keep those inflationary pressures down.''

Officers from the 43 forces today examined how it could be made legal for them to strike. Police officers are banned by law from striking, although they may instead insist on exercising their right to take work breaks or reduce flexible working.

The potential for action by police is a test for Smith, who needs to balance budgetary pressures with ambitions to cut crime.

Opposition

Keith Vaz, a ruling Labour Party lawmaker who leads Parliament's Home Affairs committee, said yesterday that 10 government ministers opposed Brown's decision.

Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said officers are ``very angry,'' with some requesting a renegotiation of the law to give them the right to strike. Berry said Smith had not honored the tradition of accepting the recommendation of the police negotiating boards.

McNulty appealed to police not to strike, saying it was against the ``culture'' of the police to take industrial action.

Brown has faced mounting unrest across the public sector since he took over from Tony Blair in June. Last week, as many as 70,000 British civil servants held a two-day strike in a dispute about pay.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net; Mark Deen in London at markdeen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 12, 2007 12:19 EST