Police across Britain have overwhelmingly supported the right to take industrial action.

The Police Federation published its results at its annual conference in Bournemouth on Tuesday.

It revealed:

~ 60,572 officers responded to the ballot.

~ 93 per cent of those want arbitration that is binding on everyone and does not allow the Home Secretary to arbitrarily veto a deal.

~ If not, 86 per cent want the federation to pursue full industrial rights including the right to strike.

~ And 66 per cent of Kent Online readers agree they should be allowed to strike, with a third against.

Ian Pointon chairman of the Kent Police Federation said: “This sends a very clear message to the Home Secretary and the rest of the Government.

"Police officers will not stand idly by while their position is abused. The current inability of police officers to take any form of industrial action must be something that is recognised as a special case and rewarded accordingly. The Home Secretary, however, took advantage of this and short-changed police officers.”

The decision to poll officers followed a mass police rally in central London in January, after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who addressed the conference on Tuesday, decided to introduce a pay rise of 2.5 per cent in stages.