Met Police could lose 2,000 officers as force's budget 'may be slashed by £450 million'
22 November 2024, 18:45
The Metropolitan Police could lose 2,000 of its officers as the force looks to cut £450 million from its budget.
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Britain's biggest police force could also lose 400 civilian staff, according to unconfirmed plans. Some police stations could reduce opening hours.
The Met currently has around 32,750 police officers, well below its operating strength of 35,415.
Matt Cane of the Police Federation told the Sun: "As we have said time and again, cuts have consequences.
"These will clearly have a significant impact on the Met’s ability to police London.”
Watch Again: Minister for Policing speaks to Nick Ferrari | 19/11/24
A spokesperson for the UK's largest police force insisted that no decision had been made regarding its budget, which currently stands at £3.5 billion.
But earlier this month Met chief Sir Mark Rowley said that police services would face "eye-watering" cuts, unless the government increases funding.
Sir Mark said the Met was in a "precarious position" and said he was "deeply troubled by the situation we appear to be heading towards" with the budget.
He told of a "dramatic change in budgets of a scale that's never going to be absorbed by efficiencies, and is going to require some pretty eye-watering cuts to the services we provide to London."
Watch Again: Tom Swarbrick is joined by Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley | 18/07/24
Speaking in September, Sir Mark also said if funding models don’t change, he expects the Met will need to close “up to half” of its remaining police stations, because “believe it or not”, they only have funding to refurbish them every 120 years.
He also begged politicians to stop obsessing over officer numbers as he claimed "political rhetoric" had "broken the foundations."
Watch Again: Nick Ferrari speaks to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley 01/05
Sir Mark told the John Harris Memorial Lecture: “We are working hard to reform but are doing so in a context where our budget is heading off a cliff.
“Commissioners and Mayors have understandably pulled every lever possible to balance the books. We can do that no longer."
Reacting to the latest reports, a Met spokesperson said: "We maintain a productive dialogue with The Mayor and Home Office around our budget and no final decisions have been made.”
