The Metropolitan Police’s inability to effectively fight crime is down to dysfunctional accountability system under the Mayor of London. The Home Secretary should step in to get the force back to fighting crime and keeping Londoners safe, says David Spencer

“In London, the Met rules the streets”. That’s what I was told over 20 years ago by one of the very experienced police officers who was tasked with keeping an eye on me in my first few months as a uniformed constable working in Camden Town.

The reality today is that many Londoners no longer believe that the Metropolitan Police is any good at keeping order on our streets or suppressing the crime and criminals that immiserate the lives of the law-abiding majority of people. Certainly, the days of anyone thinking that the Met “rules the streets” feel long gone.

A decade ago 68 per cent of Londoners said they believed that the police did a good job in their local area – for the 12 months to June 2025 that figure plummeted to 45 per cent. Rates of knife crime in the capital, despite some reductions this year compared to last, are still far higher........

© City A.M.