Sadiq Khan should be stripped of control of Met Police as public confidence in force plunges, says think tank

"Confidence in the Met Police has fallen to an all-time low as Londoners lose faith in the force's management of protests, ability to solve thefts and local policing, according to a new report. A damning report published by the Policy Exchange think tank recommended that responsibility of the service should be stripped from mayor Sadiq Khan and transferred to the Home Office instead."

"The Policy Exchange found that the Met was effective at confronting serious incidents, including homicides and knife crime, but it was failing to solve high volume, lower level crime such as thefts. The Met Police solves nearly all of homicide cases (95 per cent), and the rate of homicides has dramatically lowered from an average of 141 per year between 2003-2022 to just 42 offences in the first half of 2025."

Confidence in the Metropolitan Police has reached an all-time low in London because of concerns over protest management, inability to solve thefts and weak local policing. Responsibility for the service is recommended to move from the Mayor to the Home Office and for the Met to return to special measures. Less than half (45%) of Londoners think the Met is doing a good job locally, five percentage points lower than in 2022. The force performs strongly on serious incidents with a 95% homicide solve rate and a sharp fall in homicides, and knife crime and hate incidents have declined. The Met struggles with high-volume thefts, solving only one in 76 reported bike thefts and one in 179 thefts from a person, and confidence has fallen despite the New Met for London plan. Observers describe the force as slow to implement necessary changes and overly timid in its approach to crime.

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