Sadiq Khan defends plans to shut Met Police station front counters, despite election promise
The Metropolitan Police Service wants to cut the number of police stations open to the public 24 hours a day in a bid to save money.
The force is facing what it called 'tough choices' after government spending plans left it a £260m budget shortfall.
There are 32 police stations open 24/7 - one in each London borough.
But the proposals would see just eight front counters staffed around the clock - one for every three boroughs.
Eleven of the 32 stations would switch to reduced opening hours but 13 would shut their front counters.
Sir Sadiq pledged in his 2024 election manifesto: '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.'
But today he told ITV News: "The commission's got three criteria when it comes to front counters - resources, funding, and the demand of the front counts.
"Some front counters will stay open 24 hours a day in some boroughs in London where there is a demand, resources and funding.
"Some boroughs, frankly speaking, nobody uses the front counters after office hours, they'll stay open during office hours, but after office hours there will be other ways."
The Met said there was no decision yet on which police stations will lose their front counters.
A spokesperson said: 'Just five per cent of crimes were reported using front counters last year, with the vast majority of Londoners doing it over the phone, online, or in person with officers elsewhere.
"Given the Met's budget shortfall and shrinking size, it is no longer sustainable to keep all front counters open.'
But the proposed cuts were criticised by the Conservative rival Khan defeated in the election.
Susan Hall, leader of the Greater London Authority Tories, said: "Sadiq Khan is keeping Londoners completely in the dark about which police counters will be axed from their communities.
'This secrecy is utterly unacceptable when people are genuinely worried about losing this vital lifeline to report crimes and access police services. The Mayor has broken his manifesto promise and now he won't even have the decency to tell
'Londoners which areas will be worst hit by his failures. We will fight these closures tooth and nail, but we can't do that whilst Khan continues to hide behind this wall of silence. What does he have to hide? What wasn't he told? This is a disgrace."
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