Met Police funding: London mayor warns of council tax rise

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he will "probably" raise council tax by the maximum rate to help pay for a shortfall in police funding.

He told BBC Radio London he could enact the government's proposal for local authorities to double the policing precept on council tax bills.

The mayor has repeatedly called for more funding for the force.

As of April, Scotland Yard had 29,924 police officers, while there were 31,075 in January 2017.

Mr Khan said the Met Police had faced £1bn in cuts since 2010.

Under the police funding settlement announced last week authorities can increase the policing element of council tax by up to £24 for the average Band D property - although residents must be consulted first.

Last year, the mayor increased the council tax precept by 5.1%, or £14.20 for the average household.

He told the radio station he felt "let down" by the government initiative.

Mr Khan said: "What I am doing is making sure I fill the hole left by the massive cuts in policing and I'll be announcing my budget this week in relation to what more money I can give to policing by raising council tax and other tools I've got in my toolkit."

He added: "It's no surprise I probably will be using the powers to raise council tax as much as I'm allowed to do so to use that money for more policing."

So far this year, there have been 131 people homicides in London, which Mr Khan said was not acceptable.

"I'm not going to pretend we can arrest our way out of this...what I'm doing is filling the hole left in cuts from policing," he said.