Federation chiefs should back off votes

Of the 250,000-strong PCS membership 28 per cent voted and out of that 61 per cent voted to strike under PCS rules.

It is the number of votes cast that count, unlike the Police Federation of England and Wales which has ignored the result of our ballot even though 34 per cent of the membership voted and 81 per cent of that number voted in favour of industrial rights.

The illegal decision of the JCC in stating that 51 per cent of the entire membership needed to vote in favour for any change in federation policy flies in the face of any democratic principle.

One has to ask the question what shabby deals were done with the government by Steve Williams and his discredited colleagues.

It is obvious that Williams and co have sold out to the government.

The decision to impose a voting threshold was made at a JCC meeting a few days after it was decided to hold a ballot even though this is not in the rules of the federation.

Mr Willams, who was elected to his position by a few people around a table, clearly has no mandate to represent 133,000 police officers. I would challenge Mr William to stand for election based on one member one vote, with no voting threshold.

James Chespy

Gillingham