THE Government needs to reverse 'draconian measures' against the police, the chairman of the Thames Valley Police federation has said.

Police constable Craig O'Leary said officers in the region felt like they were doing a job with 'one hand tied behind out back' after the results of a force pay and morale survey were published.

PC O’Leary, said the results of the PFEW annual Pay and Morale Survey had ‘come as no surprise at all’. They revealed 87.2 per cent of respondents from TVP said they felt they were not paid fairly for the stresses and strains of the job, a total of 86.9 per cent said morale within the force was low.

PC O'Leary said: "This echoes with the pain that our officers are feeling right now. Their wages aren’t keeping up with inflation so household budgets are now very tight.

“The Government needs to reverse the draconian measures they’ve been taking against the Police. The police are here to do quite a unique job and at the moment we feel like we’re doing it with one hand tied behind our back.

"Reverse the cuts, start awarding police officers pay rises above the 1 per cent...otherwise the situation’s just going to get worse and worse."