Police to protest at Holyrood for first time in history amid fair pay fight

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Off-duty officers and staff from the Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank and file ­officers, will descend on Holyrood on Wednesday to lobby ministers.

Police officers are legally barred from striking but said they won’t be sidelined and criticised ministers’ boasts of ­avoiding strikes elsewhere.David Threadgold, chairman of the SPF, said: “I need to be absolutely clear that patience is running out and there is an overwhelming sense that we are not being treated fairly by the government. “There is a huge amount of ­goodwill and understanding from officers to keep the service going and they are well aware of the impact on our service delivery should they choose to work strictly to the regulations.”Protesters are to gather at ­Holyrood at 12pm and will stay for two hours to raise awareness of their plight.So far the Scottish Police Authority, which is responsible for setting police pay, has not officially responded to the force’s claim for an 8.5 per cent wage rise which they submitted in March.But Threadgold said the problem lies with the Scottish Government as it is responsible for setting the police budgets every year.

He said: “Our focus is not to impact the public but to have a fair pay offer from the ­government that allows police officers to start to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and the impact this process has had on them and their families. “We don’t want to do this but feel we’ve got absolutely no choice.

We hope that before Wednesday we can come to a resolution.” The SPF chief said officers had been “frustrated” with the government’s recent boasts of avoiding strikes and its offers to help with disputes in England while their own pay claim has been ignored.Last month, Health Secretary