By Candidate for Mayor of London Susan Hall.
On Thursday, I challenged Sadiq Khan on his biggest failing as Mayor: his inability to lead our police force properly. But yet again, he was full of his old excuses, writes Susan Hall.
Despite being in charge of our police as the police and crime commissioner for nearly eight years, Sadiq Khan believes that rising crime in London is everybody else’s responsibility but his.
Time and time again, he has blamed the spike in crime on the Government, the school holidays, too much sunlight, inflation, population growth and the weather. Sadiq needs to stop passing the buck and face up to his responsibilities.
Time and time again, he has blamed the spike in crime on the Government, the school holidays, too much sunlight, inflation, population growth and the weather.
Each and every week, Londoners tell me they simply do not feel safe in our City anymore. We see thugs with machetes marauding through the streets, homes and shops broken into, and an alarming 58 percent increase in muggings since Sadiq Khan was elected as Mayor.
Recently, the horrific events in Israel and Palestine have made the situation even worse.
Antisemitic hate crimes have skyrocketed by 1,350 percent in London, and Islamophobic offences by 140 percent. We have had Jewish schools being forced to close to keep children safe.
This is just not good enough. I have been a victim of crime myself; I know what it is like to feel unsafe. No one in our great city deserves to feel like that.
Like many Londoners, I too am fed up with the excuses coming from City Hall. We need a Mayor who will get a grip of crime and put things right.
That means someone who is willing to put their hand in their pocket and back their promises with the funding needed to get results.
The Government has played its part. The Met has received record levels of investment from them, so that it could recruit 4,557 new police officers. But Sadiq Khan failed to meet the target, he failed to get to the finish line and forced the Met to give back around £60 million because he could not deliver.
To be clear, Sadiq Khan was the only police and crime commissioner in the country to miss the target.
To be clear, Sadiq Khan was the only police and crime commissioner in the country to miss the target.
If Sadiq Khan genuinely cares about keeping people safe, he would stop wasting money on self-promotion and vanity projects and put more City Hall money into the police budget. He has a £21 billion budget, that he does not spend responsibly or effectively. And it is Londoners like you and I who pay the price.
The safety of Londoners is my number one priority. That is why I have pledged to invest £200 million into fixing the Met Police and getting crime rates under control. This investment will be focused on the areas that make the biggest difference for getting crime down. I will work closely with the Met commissioner to ensure every single penny is put to good use.
As part of my plan for a London safe for everyone, I will crack down on burglaries, robberies, and thefts by setting up specialist units focused specifically on these crimes. These so-called ‘minor crimes’ have been ignored for too long, which has emboldened criminals. It is time we put an end to it.
As part of my plan for a London safe for everyone, I will crack down on burglaries, robberies, and thefts by setting up specialist units focused specifically on these crimes.
Sadiq Khan has had nearly eight years as London’s police and crime commissioner. I have told him time and time again, at Mayor’s Question Time and at London Assembly meetings, that crime is moving in the wrong direction.
All he has done is shrug it off and make excuses for his poor performance.
He claims he supports the police, despite his history as a lawyer suing them for cash. But when you look at his actions, he clearly isn’t interested.
After eight years of Sadiq Khan failing to keep our city safe, it’s time we show him the door.
We owe it to victims of crime to do better. I am determined that, as your Mayor, we will.
Susan Hall is the Conservative London mayoral candidate.
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Mayor of London and London Assembly Elections take place every four years. The last elections took place in May 2021. The next Mayoral and London Assembly elections will take place on Thursday 2 May 2024.
This article first appeared in the Express on 4 November 2023.
