Boris Slams Government In Candid Phone-In

4 November 2015, 10:54 | Updated: 14 September 2016, 13:49

Boris Johnson was heavily critical of his own government on both police cuts and Uber during a very candid phone-in show on LBC.

The Mayor of London, who returned to the government in May's General Election, said the current police cuts were wrong.

He was also upset by the government being "besotted" by taxi app Uber.

And he also insisted the government must put in place proper safeguards to stop the Snooper's Charter becoming a tool for oppression.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari about government police cuts, Mr Johnson said: "It is right to be alarmed by that. I think it is disadvantageous, not just for London but for Lancashire, Sussex, various other areas who have been done down by some inexplicable changes in the way the thing is calculated.

"It's very very hard to understand. It's taken no account in London's case, of the massive growth in the population we're seeing.

"Crime is continuing to fall - we've had some great figures. But come on, this is a huge city with loads of social problems of one kind or another.

"People want to see police out on their streets. At the moment, I don't think the funding formula is correctly framed. We are in conversations with the government about that."

Moving on to Uber in his fascinating Ask Boris show, he said: "The government is still so besotted with this idea that they've got to support Californian tech titans - even though they don't pay a dime of tax in his country.

"In my view they are not doing enough about it."