SUSSEX Police Federation has signed an open letter to the Prime Minister demanding there be no more “smoke and mirrors” over proposals to increase officers’ pay.

The letter criticises an announcement made earlier this month by the Home Secretary, Hastings and Rye MP Amber Rudd, that there would be a two per cent pay award for rank and file police officers in the next year.

The Home Office said overall police spending has been protected in real terms since 2015 and the police’s independent inspectorate has highlighted the potential for further efficiencies.

Mrs Rudd said: “This award strikes a fair balance for police forces, officers and taxpayers.”

The open letter, signed by 43 police federations in England and Wales, demands answers about crime figures, police numbers, “extra” officers pledged by the Government and “extra” money officers have been told they will receive.

The letter states: “No more double standards. You expect officers to run towards terrorists one minute and then turn your backs when we ask for help so they can afford to feed their families.

“Families they barely see because of the hours they work to fill the void left by the thousands of officers who are no longer there because of your cuts.

“Officers who are now broken, who are unable to cope with the mental and physical demands placed upon them by having to work in depleted environments. With out-of-date kit. With fewer people. With no support.

“One chief constable has just this week told you that 40 per cent of his officers have sought professional help for stress. It is the tip of the iceberg.

“And a two per cent pay rise with no extra money to pay for it means it is the public who will yet again suffer and get even less of a service.”

The letter adds that a pay award of on average less than £10 a week is insulting.

It labels the Government’s proposal a “disgrace”, adding that “with 20,000 fewer police officers than five years ago it is no wonder we have seen crime rise and the service to the public suffer”.

Matt Webb, chairman of Sussex Police Federation, said: “Crime is not falling, it’s on the up and cyber crime has exploded.

“Officers are having to do more and more and cries of extra police officers being on patrol are not ‘extra’ police officers.

“They are the same officers doing longer hours, being called back in when they are off or being given extra responsibilities.”

The federation says officers have been failed on a number of issues and asks why the independent body which has awarded MPs and ministers a 13 per cent rise over the last three years was listened to, when the independent police body on pay was not.