London mayor candidate pledges hotel levy to fund police

Shaun Bailey has pledged a 28% increase in police numbers should he be voted into office

The Conservative candidate vying to be London's next mayor is planning to introduce a hotel tax to help pay for almost 9,000 extra officers.

Shaun Bailey, 48, has pledged a 28% increase in policing numbers if he gets into office.

He said he would lobby government to introduce a 1% hotel levy to raise £48m annually to pay for 734 extra officers.

Mr Bailey said "crime is out of control" in London and more police were needed to tackle the problem.

While accepting that hoteliers "don't want" the tax, he argued that every major city in the world has introduced a levy.

"I will definitely be lobbying for a hotel levy. London needs to be safe, we invite people here, and paying a levy towards safety is a great thing."

The candidates standing to be London's mayor

But Kate Nicholls of UK Hospitality which represents the industry, said the plan was "hugely disappointing" and that tourists might be put off from coming to the UK.

"If you are having to put in an additional tax to fund more police it sends the wrong message to visitors that London is somehow unsafe and unwelcoming," she said.

Sadiq Khan has dismissed Shaun Bailey's hotel levy plan

Current mayor, Labour's Sadiq Khan, said of the former adviser to David Cameron: "Nothing this man says can be trusted. He can't count and he's got amnesia.

"The reality is we are paying the price of the advice he gave to the [former] prime minister."

Mr Bailey, a London Assembly member, has also earmarked a £104m "emergency crime budget" to pay for 1,590 of those extra officers.

This money, he said, would come from cuts to City Hall marketing, staff and union representatives.

If elected, he said he would also be urging Boris Johnson to secure a further 4,631 officers for London. The prime minister has already pledged 20,000 officers nationally, with an allocation of 1,369 for the capital.

Inside the office of the Mayor of London

As part of Mr Bailey's crime strategy, he also wants to introduce a surveillance system used by New York police which collects data from CCTV cameras and licence plate readers.

"Crime is already out of control and you have to plan to solve crime, and for me, boots on the ground is the first step of that plan.

"Any pledge I make is realistic, deliverable and costed," he added.

The other candidates standing for mayor are Mr Khan for Labour, Siobhan Benita for the Liberal Democrats, Sian Berry for the Green Party, and nine other independent contenders.