'Labour won't let you legalise drugs', Keir Starmer's frontbench tells Sadiq Khan
23 September 2022, 21:39 | Updated: 23 September 2022, 21:41
Sadiq Khan has been told he would not be allowed to legalise drugs in London under a Labour government.
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The capital's mayor has launched a review to explore legalising cannabis and drawn up an idea to stop prosecuting people who are caught with the drug.
But his plans have been slapped down by Sir Keir Starmer's frontbench, who said he could take a position, but if they win the next election he wouldn't get permission to do it.
Steve Reed told The Telegraph: "He is entitled to his view, but mayors will not be responsible under this government or under a Labour government for that policy.
"So he can express whatever he likes, but he'll never have the opportunity to do it under a Labour government because we won't be liberalising drugs laws.
"He’s contributing to a debate, but he won't have the power to do anything about it, however that comes about."
Mr Khan has said he does not have a view on whether legalising cannabis but said he is keen to debate the policy.
"There are many areas where we haven't got the power to change the laws but we can influence the government and lobby them," he told LBC previously.
"I think one of the things we've got to do is to have an open mind about these issues."
He set up the first London Drugs Commission in May, and visited Los Angeles to assess the impact of legalising cannabis there. It will not look at Class A drugs.
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Cannabis arrests in California dropped by 56 per cent after it became legal to use, possess and grow in 2016.
A total of 6,065 cannabis arrests took place in 2017, compared to 13,810 arrests in 2016.
Felony arrests for cannabis fell by 74 per cent, from 2,086 in 2017 to 7,949 in 2016.
Mr Khan intends so submit evidence gathered by his commission to the government of the day.
But Mr Reed, who used to lead Lambeth Borough Council, said he had tackled problems in Brixton.
"You couldn't walk 100 yards from the tube station to the bus stop without people stopping you to try and sell you drugs and it deterred people coming there for recreation [and] to use local shops and businesses," he said.
"It was really driving the area into a downward spiral economically. But in addition to that, because that created the sense that you could come and buy your drugs in Brixton, it became like London's drug supermarket."
He went on: "You just want that trade off the streets. So I don't think for a second that we should be looking at legalising drugs recreationally."
