London was hit harder than any other part of the country by years of Conservative cuts to its police force, Sadiq Khan has claimed.
Citing new figures, the London mayor said that in 2010, when the Conservatives came to power nationally and started cutting government spending, the capital had 4.1 officers per 1,000 Londoners – but by 2016/17 that had dropped to 3.3 officers per 1,000 Londoners.
In the latest skirmish of his long-running conflict with the government, Khan claimed the extent of the reduction in government funding was linked to rising crime.
He said spending on policing per person in London fell by the biggest amount in England and Wales. It was £423 per person in 2012/13, down to £337 in 2016/17. The mayor’s figures suggest a 20% fall, broadly in line with the scale of the cut in government funding to the Metropolitan police, compared with 6% across the country.
One reason the figure is so stark is that the Met’s budget was cut as London’s population grew substantially.
In 2010 it was more than 8 million, rising to a population of nearly 9 million today. The capital is forecast to grow further, with up to 10 million people by 2030. The Met said the force would have to make £300m more cuts on top of the £700m made so far.
Khan has linked the funding cuts to rising violence. He said: “The level of knife crime across our country, including London, is simply unacceptable. We’re doing everything we can, in City Hall, to tackle this scourge.
“The figures released today show the true scale of government cuts to police funding that have hit our city harder than anywhere else in the UK. I make no apologies for relentlessly pushing the government to understand that cuts have consequences and that our police service desperately need more funding right now.”
The crime statistics show that in 2011 there were 155,428 offences of violence against the person in London, which dipped to 148,283 in 2013, and rose to 248,993 by 2017.
In 2011 the Met had 32,441 officers, down to 30,398 by 2013. They are now below the symbolic 30,000 level at 29,924, though commissioner Cressida Dick said she expected the number of officers to rise above the 30,000 mark by the end of the year.
The government’s response to pleas for more funding used to be that London and the Met police had enough money. That was its stance when Theresa May was home secretary, and then under her ally Amber Rudd.
But such a hard line may be more difficult to maintain now that the home secretary, Sajid Javid, has publicly accepted that the police need more funding. He vowed at the Police Federation conference in May to battle the Treasury for more money, a stance he took before the government announced extra funding for health.
Earlier this month Dick said it would be “naive” not to think cuts had not had a link to rising crime. But she and her senior officers accept there are a variety of factors.
Research by the Home Office, which was leaked, showed that officials believe government funding cuts to the police “may have encouraged” violent offenders and have “likely contributed” to a rise in serious violent crime.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “There are more police officers for each Londoner than anywhere else in the country.
“Decisions about frontline policing, and how resources are best deployed, are for chief constables and democratically accountable police and crime commissioners – in this instance the mayor of London.
“Funding for the Metropolitan police is increasing by £110m this year compared to 2017/18, including the mayor’s contribution from business rates and the increase in precept income.”