Tony Newman, the leader of Croydon Council, has joined with the mayors and leaders of 19 other London boroughs to call on the Government to halt the damaging cuts to spending on the Metropolitan Police.
Kenley used to have a police station until Steve O’Connell and the Tories shut it down
Under Tory Boris Johnson as London Mayor, most of the police stations in Croydon have been closed down and flogged off, even including Kenley, the ward represented at Croydon Town Hall by Steve O’Connell. O’Connell is the Conservative London Assembly Member for Croydon and Sutton who sits on the police authority at City Hall which has wielded the axe to so many police jobs and stations since 2010.
Recent emergencies across London, such as the terror attack at London Bridge and the fire at Grenfell Tower, have highlighted how our fire, police and ambulance services, as well as the NHS, are being stretched to breaking point after seven years of Tory cuts.
In their letter in yesterday’s Evening Standard, Newman and his local Labour council colleagues wrote: “We are most concerned about the Mayor’s warnings over plans to keep one 24-hour police station open to the public in every borough.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan: wants more funds for London’s emergency services
“The Government has made huge cuts to the Met, and the total is expected to rise to £1billion’s worth since 2010. At the last General Election, Londoners made it clear that they felt the Government can no longer protect them on the cheap.
“We know what an important job our police do and how crucial community-focused policing is to tackling crime and providing reassurance. Recent tragic events have only underlined how essential their work is and how stretched our police services currently are.
“We urge the Government to reconsider these cuts and work with Sadiq Khan and local authorities to keep our police stations open.”
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