Responding to today’s announcement of the police funding settlement for 2019/20, Labour’s London Assembly Policing Spokesperson, Unmesh Desai AM, said:
“Following today’s announcement, Londoners could be forgiven for thinking the Government are indifferent to the safety of people in our city.
“We’ve had months of warnings about London’s ability to retain sufficient police officer numbers. The number of cancelled officer rest days is rising, morale is at rock bottom, and we’ve seen the Met forced to screen out some ‘low level’ crime.
“Unprecedented challenges, particularly around rising violent crime, has seen City Hall scrapping to bridge the gap in the Met’s funding. Without adequate Government support, there is only so much that can be done, and today’s settlement falls far short of that.
“Even with the lifting of the cap on the policing precept, the money coming into the Met will not accurately reflect the pressures they encounter in providing what is essentially a national service whilst also dealing with escalating serious crime.
“Budget pressures threaten to further impact the Met’s frontline and could seriously undermine their ability to keep Londoners safe. We’ll once again be urging the Minister to do more to help our hardworking but hard-pressed police force.”
ENDS