PLEASE PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION AS THE LONDON ASSEMBLY REQUIRE EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR THE PETITION TO BE VALID.

THIS PETITION IS FOR CAMDEN RESIDENTS ONLY

We the undersigned call on the Mayor of London and the London Assembly to increase substantially Council tax by as much as 50% in order to provide much needed funding to the Met and call on the Mayor to spend up to £10m on a referendum of Londoners to ask them if they wish to see such an increase.

Why is this important?

This is a petition for Camden residents only as it affects the Metropolitan Police Service and it is designed to obtain a sample of opinion across London.

The reality is that the Met is broken. It is haemorrhaging police officers faster than they can recruit and the police service around the country has lost 22,000 officers since the cuts were instituted.

The Met alone, which manages London including the City, has had its funds cut by just under £1bn in the last 8 years. Knife crime is at a 10 year high and the situation is set to get worse. Many people have written to me about being attacked in the street with impunity with your cases closed as quickly as they are opened, others are afraid in their homes as burglars prowl with no visible deterrent. The Met here are not at fault. The fault comes from their lack of funding and their depletion of numbers.

Sajid Javid MP tried to get more funding when he became Home Secretary, but given the Prime Minister’s implacable face against increasing much needed funding for the police of this country, he can do nothing.

Meanwhile, Londoners suffer and small groups of concerned residents spring up in pockets to start to patrol their streets and others hire security guards.

Funding the Met is over complicated but in summary it comes from the Government and the Mayor. The Mayor is limited to a certain extent on how much he can give the Met - legislation limits the amount by which he can raise council tax to increase Met funds unless he gets a nod from the government to increase the percent, which he did last year.

But, the Mayor can do more. He can hold a referendum of Londoners to ask them to pay more council tax for the Met which he directs specifically to the Met.

Mr Dismore has confirmed that if I organise a petition from at least 250 Camden residents in the terms of the petition above he would present this to the Mayor. This may not be where the Mayor ends up, but it is a start and I would ask at least 250 of you to help.

To put the Met back into its position with £1bn of funds would take approx. 126% rise in council tax. But, this petition asks for up to 50% increase as it is unlikely that Londoners would be able to sustain any more than this. Many may not want more than a 20% increase and some even less.

This petition merely starts the conversation about having a referendum at all and the research on asking Camden residents to pay more is a start. Without this, we will be stuck where we are with increasing crime and reducing resources to tackle it. The Met have to save a further £200m by 2020.

Let's start now to make a difference.

Data protection matters

For data protection purposes, by signing this petition, please note that you are agreeing to the following:

I agree that my name and email address can be supplied to Andrew Dismore AM, the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. I understand that the GLA does not publish signatories’ addresses or email address, both of which are kept confidential, but that the information is required to validate the petition.

I understand that some of the details will be shared with and processed by the GLA on behalf of the Assembly Member as necessary (in order to ensure that the petition is properly passed to the Mayor). There may also be exceptional circumstances where some details are shared with other Assembly Members, such as where the petition is addressed to the Assembly as a whole.

I agree that Jessica Learmond-Criqui can process my details and update me by email on matters relating to this petition from time to time.