Starmer rejects ‘heads must roll’ approach to Met Police reform
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not believe in a “heads must roll” approach to reforming the Met Police after an excoriating review into the failing force.
Starmer said he would resist a “structural, break-it-up, heads must roll model” to overhauling the force.
“I’ve seen that too often before where something goes wrong,” he said, adding: “There is a tendency to say, ‘Well as long as one person goes, then the problem is solved’.”
“I’ve never really believed that that actually solved the problem.”
Published earlier this week, found the Met was “institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic” and warned killer and rapist cops could still be in uniform.
At an event today, the former director of public was asked under what circumstances he would consider disbanding the Met.
He said “I think that something on the scale of what happened in Northern Ireland with the Police Service of Northern Ireland is now what’s needed in the Met.
“It is not that structure is the ultimate change, I actually think the ultimate change is the behavioural, cultural change.”
Tough on crime?
It came as Labour outlined the second of their five national missions on tackling crime.
The party has pledged to halve serious violent crimes – including attacks on women and girls – as Starmer made the bold claim that “a Labour government is coming”.
Levels of violence against women and girls (VAWG) will be halved within ten years, if Labour takes office, while serious violent crime will also drop by 50 per cent, Starmer said.
Starmer said Labour would restore confidence in policing to “its highest ever level”; halve knife crime incidents; reverse the fall in crimes being solved; and halve levels of VAWG.
He also strengthened his language on Labour’s electoral chances, promising: “Mark my words, a Labour Ggovernment is coming – and we will bring forward a proper victims law.”
But hitting back, Tory chairman Greg Hands said: “Starmer is taking the British people for fools. Everyone knows he personally blocked the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals.
“Labour are too weak to keep our streets safe, time and time again they have shown that they do not share the values of the law-abiding majority in this country.”