Sadiq Khan’s policing deputy has accused the last Tory government of throwing the Metropolitan Police “under the bus” and “whipping up hatred” in London.
Speaking at City Hall on Wednesday, Sophie Linden, the deputy mayor for policing and crime, also told London Assembly members that she believed the new Government will be more supportive of the Met.
Susan Hall, the Conservative chair of the Assembly’s police and crime committee, said Ms Linden’s remarks were “completely outrageous” and “utterly wrong”.
Ms Linden had been fielding questions on the policing of protests in London, which continues to place a huge burden on Scotland Yard’s budget and number of available officers. Some £13.4million alone was spent between January and March this year on Operation Brocks, the Met’s response to demonstrations related to the conflict in Israel and Gaza.
Commenting on the new Labour Government, the deputy mayor told the committee: “I genuinely think that we will no longer have a Government that is whipping up division, whipping up hate, and also throwing the Metropolitan Police under the bus - when they are trying their best, and using all of their experience and expertise to police London, and doing so effectively.”
The remarks appeared to allude to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, now a contender for the Tory leadership, who claimed in November last year that the Met were taking a biased approach in dealing with protests over the Israel-Gaza War.
Writing in the Times, Ms Braverman said there was “a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters”.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Ms Linden said the Met have been “policing the protests extremely well in London, and really trying their best to have the balance between the right to protest, the right to free speech, and also protecting communities when they feel fearful”.
But Ms Hall, who recently stood against Mr Khan in the London mayoral election, said it was “completely and utterly wrong” to say that the last Government stirred up hatred or failed to support the Met.
She added: “I had many conversations with [former Home Secretary] James Cleverly, latterly, and he was very supportive, so I think actually coming out with comments like that, when there’s nobody here to defend it, and to say that’s wrong, is completely outrageous”.
The Conservative assembly member pressed the deputy mayor on how much extra funding City Hall will be requesting from the new Government to help cover the cost of policing the protests, which disproportionately affect London and the Met’s resources.
Ms Linden said Mr Khan had already made clear that he believes the Government’s grant to the Met - intended to reflect the increased costs which come with policing the UK’s capital - is underfunded by some £240million.
“We’re just about two weeks into the new Government,” the deputy mayor said. “We will obviously be having discussions with them, and funding will be part of those discussions, of course.”
She told the committee that since the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Middle East conflict on October 7 last year, some 51,799 officer shifts were connected to protests or vigils, as of June 9.
“That’s a huge number of police officers being abstracted from their local neighbourhood policing, abstracted from communities,” she said.
