Tory mayoral candidate promises 1,500 extra police

The Conservative London mayoral candidate has promised an "extra 1,500 police officers" on the streets of the capital if she is elected.

Susan Hall said she wanted to go "back to borough policing" to cut crime.

She pledged to introduce two police bases in every borough, funded as part of an overall £200m investment in policing.

Announcing her policing policies on Wednesday, Ms Hall said "crime is, in my view, getting out of control", adding: "Never before have we needed police around on our streets as much as we do now."

She said she chose to visit the site of the former Eltham police station because it had been "flattened thanks to Sadiq Khan".

"In 32 boroughs I'll put an extra two bases so police will be actually based where they are working," she said.

But, she clarified, this would include hubs to store kit and not every base would have public-facing services.

Asked how she planned to fund the bases, Ms Hall said some of the money would come from a wider package of funding for policing but it also depended on the situation in each borough.

"Some boroughs already own places that we can open up again, in some areas we're going to have to find areas that we can open up in," she explained.

Additionally, the candidate said she would appoint a women's commissioner, whose sole focus would be implementing a strategy to make London safer for women.

She also announced she would fund the installation of knife arches in every London school to make schools "knife-free zones".

Ms Hall said more must also be done to recruit officers into the Metropolitan Police, pointing out Mr Khan had to return £90m in government funding because the force was not able to meet its recruitment target.

London has a record number of almost 34,000 police officers, backed by 1,300 community support officers, 1,300 specials and almost 11,000 staff in administrative roles.

However, officers are retiring at a faster rate than new ones are being taken on, and recruitment is being hampered by a combination of general recruitment problems in the public sector and extra vetting prompted by the review by Dame Louise Casey.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told a committee of MPs in April last year the force had missed its recruitment target "in part" because "the reputation of the organisation at the moment doesn't help".

Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Blackie said: "I find it surprising the Conservatives are proposing more police stations when they had a policy of closing them for many years."

Green candidate Zoe Garbett has also been contacted for comment.

Ms Hall was also asked about claims that Mr Khan plans to bring in "pay-per-mile" road charging - something he has repeatedly denied.

Ms Hall reiterated her claim, saying: "Sadiq Khan said that he would never bring in the Ulez expansion... he has."

Mr Khan's spokesperson previously said the circulated leaflets "peddle a barefaced lie".

"The Tories are clearly desperate and have resorted to deliberately misleading Londoners. It is nothing more than scaremongering," the spokesperson said.

"Sadiq has repeatedly, categorically, ruled out pay-per-mile for as long as he is mayor. Londoners will not be duped by these Tory lies."