Labour councillors have rebelled against London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s policing cuts which have broken his pledge to keep police station counters open year-round.
Lambeth’s Labour group started a petition after City Hall cuts meant just two London police stations will have 24-hour front desks.
Sir Sadiq had pledged during his second re-election campaign in 2024 to keep a 24-hour counter open in every borough.
His manifesto said: ‘I’ll continue to ensure the Met is able to effectively respond to the public, including maintaining a 24-hour police front office counter in every borough.’
In October the Met agreed a new plan to balance its £260million budget shortfall, axing 18 police station front desks entirely and keeping just 20, only two of which will remain open 24 hours.
Labour councillors in Lambeth began a petition to save Brixton Police Station’s front desk, saying it was ‘vital in keeping our borough safe’.
The group said the decision sent the ‘wrong message’ and was taken by the Met ‘without proper consultation with residents, the council or local stakeholders’.
Under the Met’s plans Brixton Police Station’s front desk would open from 10am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 7pm on weekends.
Outside those hours, the nearest 24-hour front desks are in Lewisham and Charing Cross, a two-hour and 80-minute walk from Brixton respectively.
On January 29 London Assembly Liberal Democrats tabled an amendment to the mayor’s budget which would have seen a ‘two-year moratorium on police station front counter closures and reductions in opening hours’.
It proposed funding the counters using £14million from reserves so that ‘essential assessment and evidence-gathering work’ could be done.
The amendment was defeated by Labour and Green votes, according to Lib Dem south-west London Assembly member Gareth Roberts.
He added Lambeth Labour’s petition effort was ‘weapons grade hypocrisy’.
‘At the London Assembly, the Lib Dems threw them a budget lifeline which would have kept every front counter in London open 24/7 and Labour assembly members, along with the Greens, voted unanimously against it.
‘And now they’re peddling sham petitions and fake outrage, blaming everybody except themselves and taking the public for mugs. They should be thoroughly ashamed.’
Joe Powell, MP for Kensington, which will also see its last 24-hour police front desk cut, said he was also against the decision.
‘I disagree with the closure of the counters, but now the decision has been taken I expect to see a plan from the Met to ensure that neighbourhood police teams are visible to residents and have a base close to their ward,’ he said.
Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers said under Sir Sadiq’s mayoralty Londoners ‘are feeling less safe and are worried about crime and anti-social behaviour in their communities’.
‘The Mayor promised Londoners so much – like protecting 24/7 police front counters – but he has totally failed.
‘Sadiq Khan spends money frivolously on everything else, but not the basics of keeping our streets safe. People already just don’t report crime any more – and it will be even more difficult to do so with closed police front counters.’
He added the Conservatives would introduce 10,000 new police officers if elected.
A spokesperson for the mayor said the measures were an ‘operational decision for the Met – based on resources, funding and public demand for services’.
They added: ‘After over a decade of cuts worth over a billion under the previous government, the Met is facing an extremely difficult financial situation.
‘The Mayor is working closely with the Met to boost visible neighbourhood policing in our communities and is having ongoing discussions with ministers and the Commissioner about the funding the Met needs to ensure we can continue building a safer London for everyone.’
The Met said it was working to close its funding gap ‘while prioritising frontline policing’.
A spokesperson added they had carried out ‘months of engagement with partners, stakeholders and trade unions’.
‘The closures form part of a number of tough choices the Met is having to make in order to operate within a shrinking budget while tackling neighbourhood crime and ensuring communities see a more visible police presence,’ they added.
The front desk closures will impact Kentish Town in Camden; Tottenham in Haringey; Edmonton in Enfield; Harrow; Bethnal Green in Tower Hamlets; Dagenham; Chingford in Waltham Forest; Kensington; Hammersmith; Twickenham in Richmond; Lavender Hill in Wandsworth; Wimbledon in Merton; Hayes in Hillingdon; and Plumstead in Greenwich.
Four more stations, which already operate with reduced desks, will also shut – at Barking Learning Centre, Church Street in Westminster, Royalty Studios in Kensington and Chelsea and Mitcham in Merton.
The full list of affected police stations can be viewed in the map below.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of trade union Unite, previously blasted the revision to the Met’s cost-cutting exercise.
She said: ‘The plans to close so many police station front desks is an incredibly short-sighted decision by the Metropolitan Police, which will undoubtedly lead to more crime, higher levels of crimes being unreported and increased staff stress.’
‘The fact it is forcing such serious cuts through without any consultation with Unite is completely unacceptable.’
Lambeth Labour Group were contacted for comment.
The Mail previously revealed London as the 15th most dangerous city for crime in Europe.
The capital, which is also the 100th worst out of 385 locations around the world, is less safe than rival European cities from Athens to Brussels and Milan to Barcelona.
London is also worse than major US cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas as well as other global destinations from Cancun to Cairo and Bali to Bangalore.
The city is however only the fifth worst UK location for crime – behind Bradford, Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester, according to Numbeo’s Crime Index.
