News

Khan warns of 'unsustainable' police cuts

Sadiq Khan has warned that future cuts to the Metropolitan Police are ‘unsustainable’ and could make it harder to foil terror attacks. The Mayor of London told the BBC that ‘fewer police officers mean we are in more danger’, and highlighted the prospect of the force facing savings targets of £400 million if the Conservative’s win the general election on 8 June. The Labour mayor, who has direct responsibility for the Met, also warned that 12,800 officers could be at risk. He said he was ‘deeply concerned’ about the effect that a further spending squeeze could have on policing in the capital, following severe budget cuts since 2010, saying the Met could lose between £184 million and £700 million in further funding a year due to changes to the national police funding formula. Recent events in London and Manchester have contributed to the resurfacing of Theresa May’s record as Home Secretary between 2010 and 2016, with the Labour Party arguing that police officer numbers fell by nearly 19,000 while she was in office. However, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said that London police numbers ‘remained high’ and that counter terror budgets were up 30 per cent under the current government. He also said that the government were hiring a further 1,900 security service officers.

Partners

View the latest
digital issue