Budget cuts imposed on the police by Labor are deeply disturbing, Met chief says

Metropolitan Police Chief warned Labor Budget It would mean “eye-watering cuts” to the services civil servants can provide to the public.

Sir Mark Rowley In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Political Thought podcast, he said he was “deeply disturbed by the situation he was led into”.

Britain’s most senior police officer said the cumulative impact of previous spending cuts had been compounded by the latest spending targets. public sectorpower will require “hard choices”.

“ chancellor It was very clear; this is a difficult public sector context,” Sir Mark said.

‘Striking change in budgets’

“You put all these things together. And you get a dramatic change in budgets and scale that will never be absorbed by efficiency. And there will need to be some pretty eye-watering cuts to the services we provide to London.”

Sir Mark told nick robinson there remains little room for efficiency savings and front line services We may suffer as a result.

“It’s not just about this year’s decisions, it’s the cumulative effect of decisions made over the last decade that has put us in an increasingly precarious situation,” he said.

“Some of the things that successive commissioners and mayors have used to balance the books — like sell police stations and the use of reserves – these have all been depleted. So these are supported in the budget. These accessories are gone.

‘Without fear and flattery’

The commissioner also defended his forces against the accusations. “Woke up” the two-tier police force By being tolerant of leftist protests and lawsuits.

Sir Mark said: “Police officers are called ‘fascists’ and ‘woke’ on the same day, same protest or same event. I mean, this is kind of ridiculous.

“On the same day, the officers realized that all the officers were in some way racist and bigot and then someone else says two-tier policing and the civil servants are somehow… sympathetic to minorities and not impartial. In other words, this is the result of being a service that operates without fear or favor before the law.”

He added: “We will always be in the crossfire. And we need to defend this line of independence firmly and decisively before the law.”

In the interview, Sir Mark compares the experience of today’s frontline police officers to his own as a young police officer in Birmingham three decades ago, suggesting they are working under far greater scrutiny than before.

“This risks narrowing the scope.” recruitment pool“And beyond that, it allows officers in the workplace to be more careful about their decisions,” he said.

‘Brutal working environment’

“Sometimes they stay away from things. They don’t want to be trained to do things. They are not trained to use stun guns there.

“They are nervous about the specter of scrutiny. They give their public order tickets because they don’t want the cameras to be in their faces. We’ve had police officers policing marches and demonstrations, having stickers put on them during the events, and then receiving death threats online. “It’s just a brutal work environment.”

Sir Mark’s comments follow the trial of an armed Metropolitan Police officer accused of murder Chris Kaba.

Sergeant Martyn Blake The 24-year-old gangster was cleared by an Old Bailey jury last month after he was shot while a police car stopped in Streatham in September 2022.

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