THE Home Secretary has been accused of running anti-police policies by North East police officers after she agreed to slash their pay packets.

Theresa May has agreed to implement most of the cuts to shift allowances and other bonuses recommended in the independent Winsor Review.

Mrs May intends to save £150m a year by reducing the additional pay handed to officers, a move she yesterday said was needed to prevent further police job losses.

Those savings will now be used to underpin long-term police savings needed to be made as a result of extensive Government funding cuts set to see more than 800 police officer jobs go across the region by 2015.

Tom Winsor’s review recommended the biggest reform of police pay in 30 years, a move which forces such as Northumbria say would leave at least 40% of officers worse off, with the biggest losers having their take-home pay slashed by up to £4,000 a year.

Officers were comparatively well paid, earning 10-15% higher than some other emergency workers and up to 60% higher than the average local earnings in regions such as Wales and the North East, the report found.

Negotiators were sent to the Police Arbitration Tribunal after failing to agree a deal. The tribunal accepted most of the Winsor proposals, but changed several others. Last night Durham and Northumbria police federations both claimed the Government was unfairly targeting officers.

Charles Munro, chairman of Northumbria Police Federation, said the move would leave a bitter taste and officers were increasingly convinced that the Government was not on the side of police officers.