RANK and file police in Hertfordshire are set to decide if they want the right to strike in a crunch poll.

Herts Police Federation will quiz their members as part of a national move but the body’s chairman has said while he understood officers’ frustration, he did not intend to strike.

Neal Alston said: “Officers feel they are treated differently because we don’t have the right to strike, so the Government can do whatever they are allowed to do with our working conditions and pay.

“Personally I don’t want employment rights because I want to remain a crown servant, there is a difference there.

“I would not go on strike and a lot of officers wouldn’t strike even if we had the right, but the Government can do what they want because we can’t do anything about it.

“It doesn’t happen to tube drivers because Bob Crow would have them out.”

Mr Alston will have to inform his members of the pros and cons of strike rights before and during February’s poll which will see the Police Federation ballot 135,000 members nationwide asking if they want full industrial rights.

The move follows 20 per cent budget cuts and proposals for major changes to pay and conditions.

In Herts police dog numbers have been stripped back and units are increasingly being shared with Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire forces.