West Midlands Police has the money and wants to meet officers' pay claim but its hands are tied by the Government, officials said last night.
The region's police authority said it was "extremely disappointed" in Jacqui Smith, the Redditch MP and Home Secretary, for blocking the pay increase and urged her to change her mind.
The Police Federation passed a vote of no confidence in Ms Smith after she delayed a 2.5 per cent pay award. The deferment means the annual pay increase is effectively 1.9 per cent, which police say is less than the amount recommended by an independent panel.
As well as demanding Ms Smith's resignation, the federation has taken the unprecedented step of balloting members on whether they should demand the right to strike. Police are currently banned from industrial action.
West Midlands Police Authority, the body responsible for funding the region's force, last night revealed money was available to pay the award.
Diana Holl-Allen, the authority's chairman, said: "We would urge the Home Secretary to agree the Police Arbitration Ruling.
"We have budgeted for the increase and if we were able to pay the settlement we would but we are bound by the decision of the Home Secretary. Our hands are tied."
A number of Labour MPs have called for the police to receive the pay rise and signed a House of Commons motion calling on the Government to reconsider.
They include, from the West Midlands, Richard Burden (Lab Birmingham Northfield), Lynne Jones (Lab Birmingham Selly Oak), John Spellar (Lab Warley), Jim Cunningham (Lab Coventry South), Brian Jenkins (Lab Tamworth), Janet Dean (Lab Burton), Paul Farrelly (Lab Newcastle-under-Lyme) and Charlotte Atkins (Lab Staffordshire Moorlands).
But Mr Brown yesterday threw his weight behind the Home Secretary when he told the Commons Liaison Committee the pay award was part of a strategy to control inflation.
Ms Smith said: "The Government has made it very clear it is in the national interest to keep public sector pay awards within two per cent."
But Paul Tonks, chairman of West Midlands Police Federation, said: "If Jacqui Smith thinks this is going to go away she is in for a shock. I have never known such bitterness."
