Context
Wilson references the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, admitting he knew about planned closures in November. She mentions that Twickenham's counter will be closed, and Richmond upon Thames will lack a front counter.
Question
Last week we discovered that Sadiq Khan had known as long ago as November that the Met planned to close a number of police front counters across London, having promised just six months earlier in his election manifesto that not a single borough would be left without a police front counter. The decision to close Twickenham’s counter means that Richmond upon Thames will be left without one. Does the Minister agree that given the importance of police counters in maintaining trust in and accessibility to our police, this decision needs to be reversed? Does she also agree that the Mayor of London has broken his promises, and that the Metropolitan police should be funded properly?
Answer from The Minister for Policing and Crime (Sarah Jones)
It is clear to me that the Mayor of London is making the right decisions on policing across London. Of course Members will feel that their particular police stations are important, and of course visible policing is important. What our communities are saying—what my communities in Croydon are saying to me—is that they want to see police on our streets tackling crime, not sitting behind desks doing the jobs that unwarranted police officers could be doing, and that is why we are putting neighbourhood policing at the heart of our policies and putting those 3,000 officers back on our streets by April next year.
Not addressed: The specific issue of front counter closures was not directly addressed; instead, the minister defended the mayor's decisions generally and focused on neighbourhood policing plans.
How: Deflection
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