Assembly member blames Khan for Twickenham police closure

 I've spoken to lots of people across the borough about the closure of the front counter and the question I’ve been asked most is ‘Whose dumb idea was this?’ The answer to the question is Sadiq Khan. He is the Mayor of London, he is also the Police and Crime Commissioner for London and it was he who published a manifesto in 2024 in which he promised to keep a police front counter open in every one London’s thirty-two boroughs.

 When he tried to break that manifesto commitment last year with a scheme that would have axed many more front counters, he was met with an outcry that was audible from the International Space Station.  Therefore, the Mayor was forced to do something of a reverse ferret and find a way to at least save face, if not save his manifesto commitments.

Therefore the decision was made to save 27 of the capital’s police front counters with only two of them remaining as a 24/7 provision.

For those who don’t know how City Hall works, once every four years the Mayor and the Assembly are elected at the same time. In theory the Assembly is supposed to hold the Mayor to account on behalf of Londoners. Unfortunately, the Labour group doesn’t appear to have read that particular memo, preferring to offer the sort of challenge on a par with asking the Mayor ‘if he has a message for a grateful capital?’

And when they do speak, it’s fairly evident that they haven’t the first clue what they’re talking about.  For example, in addition to Twickenham police front counter closing, so too are Wimbledon and Mitcham. However, when I raised this matter the Assembly Member whose patch these are in, Leonie Cooper, flatly denied this was happening just two days before they were due to close. She simply wasn’t aware.

When the Liberal Democrats twice proposed a motion to save not just Twickenham’s police front counter but all 32 of the 24/7 counters, the Labour Party and the Green Party Assembly Members failed to support it.

Of real concern, however, is that recently I asked the Mayor if, as the Met needs to find a quarter of a billion pounds of savings over the next two years, would he guarantee police stations themselves would not close. He refused to offer that guarantee.

So, if they Mayor proposes closing Twickenham Police Station in its entirety, don’t expect the Green Party or the Labour Party to lift a finger to oppose it.

• Gareth Roberts is Liberal Democrat Council leader of Richmond Council