The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced he plans to increase council tax to help the police crackdown on phone thefts.
Mr Khan said there had been ‘significant progress’ in reducing crime in London but acknowledged that phone theft has increased in recent years, fuelled by ‘an international criminal trade’ in handsets.
The mayor plans to increase the policing precept part of council tax by £15 per year – the equivalent of £1.25 a month for an average Band D household. This is expected to raise an additional £60m.
The funds raised will pay for measures that will help tackle phone theft, including more enforcement blitzes and pro-active targeting of known offenders.
Mr Khan is also planning to increase the non-police council tax precept by £5.13 per year and to allocate all this increase to the London Fire Brigade (LFB).
The Mayor of London described the decision to increase council tax as ‘difficult’ but argued it was necessary to provide ‘crucial funding’ for the police.
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