1918–1919 United Kingdom police strikes
Open-knowledge reference entry
The 1918–19 British police strikes in the United Kingdom resulted in the British government putting before Parliament its proposals for a Police Act, which established the Police Federation of England and Wales and Scottish Police Federation as the representative bodies for the police. The Act barred police from belonging to a trade union or affiliating with any other trade union body. This Act, drafted and passed into law, was passed in response to the formation of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers (NUPPO). A successful police strike in 1918 and another strike in June 1919 led to the suppression of the union by the government. On 1 August 1919, the Police Act 1919 passed into law. Only token opposition from a minority of Labour Members of Parliament was voiced in Parliament.
Preliminaries
Formation of NUPPO
In 1870, police in Newcastle upon Tyne were recorded as 'in dispute' with their local Watch Committee over conditions of work and low pay, though they did not withdraw from duty. This was followed by two Metropolitan Police strikes in 1872 and 1890. Union formation grew in the early 20th-century and an anonymous letter in the September 1913 issue of the Police Review announced that a police union was being formed. Rank-and-file officers began secretly joining the union.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4971418. The Library of Congress control number is sh85104255. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 1919, 1870 and 1872.
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