By Charlotte Webster-
The Metropolitan Police needs to be depoliticised and refocussed on fighting crime, instead of hitting diversity targets, London mayor candidate Laurence Fox has warned
Launching his crime manifesto for the capital, Mr Fox, leader of the new Reclaim Party, has promised a tough “New York” style of policing while ditching policies on inclusivity and diversity. It comes as a direct attack on the record of Labour mayor Sadiq Khan whose tenure has seen a massive rise in knife crime and young people killed on the streets of London.
The English actor and political activist announced plans to launch a separate party of his own in September 2020 , said the party would aim to provide a “new political movement which promises to make our future a shared endeavour, not a divisive one”.
He has also claimed claimed to have received more than £5m in donations to start the party, provisionally named Reclaim, although he did not provide evidence.
Division
Mr Fox said, “The Mayor’s policy of diversity policing has created huge division and a crime wave on the streets of London. I want the Met to be a force, not a service, to enforce the law for all Londoners without fear or favour.”
His policies include no limits to stop and search to tackle knife crime, an end to police ‘taking the knee’ in tribute to the Black Lives Matter organisation and dancing with environmental protesters, making local police accountable for what happens on their patch, and making the Met Commissioner answerable to the Mayor for overall crime figures.
Mr Fox’s policies would attract some controversy because of its apparent dismissal of racist issues associated with stop and search, but will also raise a worthy debate as to whether priority should be placed on preventing serious crimes by searching potential suspects in areas known to have a high crime rate.
He would first need to get into power. for any of his policies to come close to being adopted.