The Home Secretary has been heckled as she told rank-and-file officers that changes to their pay and conditions were reforms which hard-working police officers should welcome.

Officers jeered as Theresa May told them regular fitness tests, new entry requirements to ensure the most talented recruits were hired, and direct entry for experienced individuals into senior ranks should all be welcome changes.

But she added that giving officers the right to strike was "off the table", saying: "Keeping our communities safe is simply too important."

Mrs May also insisted it was not true that the Government was singling out policing, adding that while the 20% budget cuts were challenging, they must be seen through "for the good of our country".

"Let's stop pretending the police are being picked on," she said. "Every part of the public sector is having to take its share of the pain."

Mrs May told the Police Federation's annual conference in Bournemouth that officers' concerns over the Government's policing reforms broadly came down to money, their pensions, pay and budgets.

She was greeted by officers standing and holding banners saying "Cutting police by 20% is criminal" as she walked on stage and showed no emotion as she was told: "Enough is enough."

Mrs May's speech was greeted with silence from the 1,200 officers at the conference. But earlier she was heckled as she told the officers: "It is because the police are crime-fighters that we will never privatise policing."

One officer shouted: "You already are."

A huge cheer and applause erupted across the conference as one federation member, Dave Bennett, told Mrs May: "Home Secretary, I believe you are a disgrace." He challenged Mrs May over the proposed pay cuts for new officers.