Mayor of London Sadiq Khan includes £110 million extra funding for the Met in 2018/19 budget
Mayor Sadiq Khan. Picture: PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan could hand the Met a £110 million funding boost for next year if his 2018/19 budget is approved by the London Assembly.
City Hall is now paying a greater percentage of the overall police budget in London than ever before - up from 18 per cent in 2010 to 23 per cent today.
Since 2010/11, the Met’s government grant funding has fallen by more than £700 million, which is nearly 40pc in real terms.
A 5.1pc council tax increase will raise £49 million which will be spent on combatting knife, boosting officer numbers and paying for a 2pc police officer pay rise.
£55 million raised from business rates - something the government has given the mayor control over - will be handed to the Met.
An additional £5 million will be spent on recruiting new officers.
Mr Khan said: “The Government have repeatedly refused to act on the funding crisis facing police services across Britain, so they have left me with no choice but to take the unusual step of increasing police funding from London business rates as well as council tax.”
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The budget also sets aside £15 million for each of the next three years for the Young Londoners Fund, which will help community groups, charities and schools deliver projects for youngsters, particularly those at high risk of being caught up in crime.
A £140 million investment fund for projects intended to grow London’s economy has also been set up. This help improve transport infrastructure and aid the creation of new business space.
Conservative London Assembly member Gareth Bacon criticised the lack of investment in transport infrastructure.
He said: “Sadiq Khan, not the government, is stifling funding by cutting local transport funding by £37m & abandoning tube upgrade work to pay for his partial fares freeze.”
The proposed budget for the GLA Group for 2018-19 is £16.3 billion, including a revenue budget of £12.2 billion and a spending plan of £4.1 billion.
The budget includes allocations for the Met, TfL, the London Fire Brigade and the Olympic Park legacy fund.
London Assembly members will now vote on Mr Khan’s budget, which can only be rejected with a two-thirds majority.
