London Bridge: Sadiq Khan tells LBC "real challenge" is to reverse Government cuts

30 November 2019, 09:25

The Mayor of London told Andrew Castle that the removal of indeterminate sentences and lack of central government funding makes fighting terror in London more challenging.

Sadiq Khan, speaking about the terror attack on London Bridge, told Andrew Castle: "As far as City Hall is concerned, we're invested in as much as we can and I indeed did raise council tax and also business rates.

The real challenge is to make sure we can persuade the Government to reverse the cuts they've made because 80% of our funding comes from central government."

Sadiq Khan spoke to Andrew Castle about the possible failings that led to yesterday's attack.

He spoke about the removal of "indeterminate sentences for the protection of the public" which meant that if "found guilty of a very serious terrorist offence, you will not be released until you can persuade the authorities that you are no longer danger to the public."

Khan explained: "So what happened was this government removed the IPP sentence from the toolkit of the judges.

"What that means is people are now given determine sentences, for example, 16 years with the recommendation to serve half - eight.

If they've behaved well in prison, they can be released at half time on licence."

He added: "The judges have to give the right sentences because what we can have is a situation where people who've been convicted of a very serious offence, are still dangerous, and a danger to the public or the conclusion of their sentence. That can't be righ