London Police Officer Questions Funding Cuts, Says More Money Needed To Keep UK Safe

A top officer of the London Metropolitan Police has raised a question mark over British Prime Minister Theresa May's narrative of police funding cuts not affecting the force’s counter-terrorism capabilities and her own understanding of how policing works despite heading the home ministry for half a dozen years.

Deputy Commissiner Craig Mackay warned the force will need more funds to prevent attacks like the one on London Bridge on June 3. It was found after the attacks that at least one of the three attackers had been reported to police earlier but had been dropped off surveillance lists due to a lack of resources.

Mackay told the London Assembly that attack stretched the Met “across the system” and not just in the force’s counter-terror command. He said each part of the police force had to be funded in their entirety so when a terror attack hits, each part can send forces to respond immediately and properly, the Telegraph reported.

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Not naming May but clearly in reference to her response after the attacks where she said counter-terrorism forces had not been impacted by the funding cuts in the six years when she was the home secretary — the top official in charge of domestic security — Mackay said: "If you don’t understand how the system works unfortunately you end up with gaps along the way. It’s very challenging to see policing just as a group of discreet services. Counter-Terrorism is ring fenced and protected, but it requires the whole of the policing system to work."

After the London Bridge terror attack, May had repeatedly insisted counter-terror forces and intelligence were "well resourced," the Guardian reported. She was asked at least five times about statistics, which showed that number of armed police was lower now than in 2010, when she was appointed home secretary. The overall number of officers was also down by tens of thousands in the same period.

However, May avoided those questions and attacked leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn instead, for saying: “You cannot protect the public on the cheap.”

Describing how the Met responded during another recent terror attack, in Westminster on March 22, Mackay said for every $1.27 (£1) spent by the force on counter-terrorism investigation, $2.55 (£2) was spent in mobilizing officers.

In the last four years, the Met has had to make $764.82 million (£600 million) in savings and is due to face another $509.96 million (£400 million) in cuts over the next four years, BBC reported.

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Last week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, expressed concern over the lack of police funding in the city, saying plans to cut the Met's budget would reduce the force's strength by up to 40 percent, according to, the London Evening Standard.

When asked during a recent interview whether Metropolitan Police needed more resources, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said: "I am quite confident that we will be reviewing our resources and I am expecting to have conversations with colleagues across the police service about what we think we need to face this changing and emerging threat. And we will of course be talking to government.

"I am quite sure that I will be saying that I can lead a police service which in the future can make even further savings as we have all had to do but that we will want more resources to help us and I am sure the same will be being said in the intelligence agencies."