Conservative mayor hopeful Susan Hall wants borough-based policing return

Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall says she wants a return to borough-based policing scrapped a few years ago because of a lack of money.

She is putting policing at the centre of her campaign with a pledge to tackle knife crime and make Londoners safer.

Ms Hall has also pledged to introduce specialist units to tackle burglaries, robberies and thefts, using £200m extra funding she says she will invest.

But a spokesman for the current Labour mayor said her plans did not add up.

Ms Hall is expected to tell Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley of her intention to restore commanders to all 32 London boroughs if she is elected as mayor on 2 May.

That system was replaced with 12 basic command units in 2018 due to financial cuts.

Ms Hall said: "Sadiq Khan has arrogantly ignored Londoners' concerns about crime for eight years and allowed the Met Police to fall into special measures.

"1,000 people have been killed under his mayoralty, and knife crime is out of control. As mayor, I will get a grip on crime and make our streets safe."

Mr Khan is investing an extra £150m in policing next year, but Ms Hall says she would invest a further £200m.

Ms Hall said this would be funded by reforming Transport for London (TfL) pensions and getting rid of free Travelcards for 50,000 friends and family of TfL workers.

The Tory candidate will propose the extra spending, as an amendment to the current mayor's budget, on Thursday.

Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverly offered his support and claimed the Labour mayor had ignored his responsibilities.

"With Susan Hall as mayor, that will no longer be the case. Her plan for London, to back our police and get a grip on crime, is the right one."

Under Mr Khan, the proportion of the Met's budget funded by City Hall has increased from 17% to more than a quarter - and Mr Khan has called on the government to "step up" funding.

A London Labour spokesperson said: "The unfunded commitments from the Tory candidate simply don't add up. They're based on revenue that doesn't exist.

"To balance the books her plans would require a huge increase in council tax - by law this would mean a London-wide referendum costing tens of millions of pounds.

"Without it, devastating cuts would be required to key public services. Her plans are deeply irresponsible."

Scheduled for 2 May, the vote to elect the mayor of London will also see members elected to the London Assembly.

Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Rob Blackie criticised the Tories for "proposing to waste even more police time searching young people for cannabis".

"Rather than wasting time with election gimmicks, the police need to do the hard work to rebuild Londoners' trust, so that they get the intelligence that they need to take knives off the street," he said.

Green mayoral candidate Zoe Garbett said she would reduce stop-and-search and restore youth services cut over the past decade.

"A Green mayor will focus on rebuilding the trust in the police through community-led policing.

"This will mean more police officers in neighbourhood teams - listening to community concerns, which will help people feel confident reporting crimes to the police so that crimes can be investigated, and the police can do their job more effectively.

"I would also ask them to deprioritise the policing of cannabis and let the police focus on serious violent crime."

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