Sadiq Khan and his Labour lackeys put politics before saving lives, says Susan Hall

Why? Because, yet again, they put politics before Londoners’ lives.

My plan is to boost the Met Police's budget by £200 million, using money already available in Sadiq Khan’s budget. But we should not have to wait until May to implement it.

The money is there. It can be spent – right now. The crime situation in London is urgent. 1,000 people have been killed since he was elected. Knife crime is soaring out of control. And the Met Police is in special measures. That’s why I proposed the £200 million investment as an amendment to Sadiq Khan’s budget at the London Assembly.

Let me say it again – the money is there. It can be spent, and with my amendment, it would have been. This funding would help us make our city safer. It would have helped make you safer.

We can fortify our schools against knife crime, by giving them knife arches. We can increase stop-and-search by giving frontline police knife detection wands to make it faster, less intrusive and more effective.

We can set up specialist units to tackle burglaries, robberies and thefts. And we can finally move back to borough-based policing, putting officers back in the communities they serve.

But Sadiq Khan, in his infinite wisdom, said no. His colleagues on the London Assembly joined in, thumbing their noses at our plan.

And they did it solely for political reasons. A reckless gamble with our city's future. They chose party politics over the people of London. I can’t begin to tell you how cross I am.

When I came onto GB News this week, and spoke about my plan with Martin, we spoke about the desperate need to stop the decline of law and order in this city, which was turning it into ‘Lawless London’.

I announced a costed way to get back to basics, with borough-based policing, putting coppers back into local communities. That included knife wands for police. A non-invasive way to stop and search people, defuse tension in that process, and ultimately get knives out of the hands of Londoners, without damaging the trust and confidence in our coppers.

Labour, clearly on the instructions of Sadiq Khan, voted this down. As we stare down the barrel of the May 2nd election, the choice couldn't be starker. Stick with Sadiq Khan, who's shown a blatant disregard for our safety, or back a new plan that prioritises the safety of every single Londoner. Sadiq Khan had his chance for eight years and blew it.

Now, it's time for Londoners to stand up, make their voices heard, and vote for a city that puts their safety first. Let's not give Sadiq Khan another chance to fail us. It's time for change.

A source close to Sadiq Khan said: “The unfunded commitments from the Tory candidate simply don’t add up. To balance the books her plans would require a huge increase in council tax – by law this would mean a London-wide referendum costing tens of millions of pounds.

“The Mayor is investing record amounts in London’s public services, including an additional £151M in this year’s budget for policing and crime prevention. Sadiq has now doubled the amount of funding he’s given to the police since becoming Mayor.”

Susan Hall is the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London.