Pic:Sadiq Khan and Cressida Dick
Political reporter(wp/es):
Sadiq Khan has issued a stark warning that London will lose thousands of frontline police officers under Conservative spending plans.
The Labour Mayor said the Metropolitan Police could lose as many as 12,800 constables – a reduction in its strength of up to 40 per cent – as it seeks to slash at least £400 million from its budget.
Scotland Yard has already had to make savings of £600m since 2010, with more cuts to come.
Mr Khan said that on top of the £400m, the Met could also face a further loss of up to £700m a year under Tory plans to change the formula for determining police funding.
"Our city has suffered two awful terrorist attacks since I was elected as mayor - and we must do everything possible to stop there being any more," said Mr Khan, who praised emergency services after seven people were killed in Saturday night’s London Bridge attack.
"Police officers in our communities act as the eyes and ears of the security services, providing the intelligence and information that allows us to disrupt attempted terrorist attacks.
"Cuts on this scale would make it harder to foil future terrorist attacks on our city - and as the mayor of London I'm simply not willing to stand by and let that happen."
The warning comes as Theresa May faces growing pressure over police cuts after presiding over a loss of almost 20,000 officers during her time as Home Secretary between 2010 and 2016.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick asked for extra resources after the third terror attack in 10 weeks hit Britain at the weekend.
“In the face of this changing and changed threat, absolutely I will be seeking for London and for policing generally more resourcing obviously," she said on Monday.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Theresa May to resign over policing cuts, but the Prime Minister insisted she had protected numbers of counter-terror officers.
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