Tory mayoral hopeful ‘will end the woke nonsense’

THE Metropolitan Police needs a dedicated burglary unit so that it can move away from “woke nonsense” and back to tackling real crime, the new Tory mayoral hopeful has said.

Susan Hall, who until recently was Tory leader in the London Assembly and chairman of the Police and Crime Committee, said the public has “lost the confidence” in Scotland Yard following a series of scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard.

Officers now need to get back to basics and operate a “common sense” approach policing, she said, adding: “We cannot have another four years of this woke nonsense, it is too much.”

The Met is one of a number of forces that has come under fire for focusing on hurt feelings in “non-crime hate incidents” and policing social media rather than serious offences.

“Women in particular do not feel safe when they are walking around London, particularly at night, and that situation is getting worse” Ms Hall told The Daily Telegraph as she announced her bid to become next London Mayor.

“The Met Police needs root and branch reform, and the Commissioner needs the powers to be able to sack corrupt officers.” She pledged to introduce a new unit to tackle burglars, muggers, and thieves in order to crackdown on the “everyday crimes” and target the organised crime networks that fence stolen goods.

“These are considered low-level crimes, but they are the crimes that really vex people,” she said. “Burglaries and muggings are part of organised crime, and we need to take those networks down.

“I think police need to be given a push to look at these sorts of crimes. In Sadiq Khan’s London it is the vulnerable who are afraid of the police, not the criminals, not the burglars and the muggers who think that they can get away with it. It is law-abiding citizens who are suffering as a result.”

Ms Hall, who resigned from the London Assembly last week to focus on her mayoral campaign, said she will scrap the expansion of the Ultra-low Emissions Zone, which will be extended to cover all of London this summer.

Howard Cox, a seasoned anti-fuel tax campaigner, has been selected as Reform UK’S candidate to be London mayor and will vow to scrap all of the Ultra Low Emission Zone. Other policies will include ending the so-called Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme and scaling back the number of 20mph speed limits in London.