Boris Johnson dismisses Sadiq Khan’s claims that ‘cuts to police make it harder to foil terrorist attacks’ – and that counter terror budgets have increased by 30%
The Foreign Secretary said resources to fight terror have been beefed up, as the London Mayor hit out at cuts to community police
BORIS JOHNSON has dismissed Sadiq Khan's claims that cuts to community police will make it harder for the UK to foil future terrorist attacks - and that the Conservatives have increased the counter-terror budget by 30 per cent.
The Mayor of London broke cover last night to warn that the Conservatives have plans to cut thousands more police officers in the years to come.
He said that Scotland Yard stands to lose between 3,400 and 12,800 constables - and the Metropolitan Police was facing cuts of £400 million.
"Our city has suffered two awful terrorist attacks since I was elected as mayor - and we must do everything possible to stop there being any more," he
"Police officers in our communities act as the eyes and ears of the security services, providing the intelligence and information that allows us to disrupt attempted terrorist attacks.
"Cuts on this scale would make it harder to foil future terrorist attacks on our city - and as the mayor of London I'm simply not willing to stand by and let that happen."
But Mr Johnson dismissed his claims today - and said that when he was Mayor police numbers were kept high, but crime still fell.
He told the BBC: "The Mayor of London will know very well that over the preceding eight years, before he became Mayor and when I was Mayor we kept police numbers high - we kept them about 32,000 - crime came down quite considerably over that period."
He also said that the counter-terror budget had increased "by about 30 per cent" - and that Labour were specifically referring to the numbers of community police officers.
"The numbers in London have been kept high," he said. "The issue is how we stop these people getting radicalised."
Mr Johnson went on: "And it is also the case that when you look at the counter-terrorism effort that this country is leading … we are putting more money into that.
"We are not only increasing the number of armed officers now, we are putting another £500 million into SAS, into MI5 and GCHQ.”
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The Foreign Secretary repeatedly used his morning interviews on Radio 4 and BBC News to hit out at Jeremy Corbyn and his position on the police.
Labour have bashed the Tories on the frontline police numbers - which have been reduced.
Mr Corbyn even suggested the Prime Minister should resign over the issue - but he later backtracked on his claim.
But the money being pumped into counter-terrorism has gone up, Mr Johnson insisted.
Last night a leading counter-terror expert accused Labour of trying to "mislead" the public over the role of police cuts.
Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said it was clear the resources WERE there for the police to deal with the threat.
He said: "This is a completely misleading argument and the Prime Minister is right about it."
He told the Daily Politics when asked if the police how the powers and resources they need: "I do, and [Met Police chief] Cressida Dick said so yesterday.
"The argument about 20,000 community police officers has got nothing to do with terrorism. It is a completely different, if legitimate argument.
"It is absolutely clear to all those involved, with knowledge of counter-terrorism policing and related issues that the authorities do have the resources they need and they have been very broadly successful.
"They have interdicted 18 plots in the last three or so years."
Today more details are emerging from the heroes of the London Bridge attack on Saturday night - as the debate begins on what more can be done to tackle terror.
- Defiant Millwall fan Roy Larner was hailed the Lion of London Bridge after single-highhandedly fighting machete terror trio with his bare firsts.
- London Mayor Sadiq Khan sparks outrage over call to ban Donald Trump's state visit over their Twitter spat
- One of the terrorists, Khuram Butt, was watched by 1.2million viewers on Channel 4 documentary while under investigation by MI5
- More police raids on homes in Ilford this morning as cops work to close the net on potential accomplices.
- Police chiefs are pushing Theresa May to extend detention powers for terror suspects from 14 to 28 days.
- And London Bridge cops find petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails in the van which was used to kill pedestrians on Saturday night.
