Sadiq Khan has pledged to boost the number of neighbourhood police and community support officers on London’s streets - but only if a Labour Government is elected.

The mayor, who is running for an historic third term at City Hall, said that if he is re-elected, he will put in place “around 1,300” additional neighbourhood police officers, PCSOs and special constables.

But he warned: “I can only guarantee a restoration of neighbourhood policing if both I win and the Labour party wins at the next general election.”

The mayor has been criticised over the fact that the Met Police were last year the only force in England and Wales to miss their recruitment targets, falling short by more than 1,000 officers. The Met was tasked with hiring 4,557 new officers but recruited only 3,468.

Mr Khan’s Tory opponent, Susan Hall, has said he is responsible for this failure, but that he “loves to blame anyone but himself for the things that are going wrong in London”.

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