London mayor elections: Lib Dem Rob Blackie pledges to fix the Met

Rob Blackie launched his manifesto at a boxing hall in Vauxhall, south London

The Liberal Democrat party will make it their priority to improve the Metropolitan Police, according to its mayoral candidate.

Rob Blackie has said he will double the number of sexual predators that will be caught by creating a new Sexual Offences Unit.

He also committed to lowering the priority given to investigating laughing gas and cannabis possession.

Blackie is one of 13 candidates in the election that will take place on 2 May.

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Launching his manifesto at a boxing hall in south London earlier on Tuesday, Mr Blackie said Labour mayor Sadiq Khan's "failure" on crime was the main reason he was running for the Lib Dems.

"Under Sadiq Khan's leadership the police are catching sexual offenders half as often as when he became mayor, last year the rate was just 9%," he said.

He pledged to double the number of predators caught, which would bring it back to 2016 levels.

His other policies for improving the Met included recruiting an additional 500 special constables and getting 300 experienced officers back on the frontline.

The Conservative candidate Susan Hall has promised an "extra 1,500 police officers" on the street if she is elected, while Sadiq Khan for the labour party says he will recruit 1,300 additional officers.

London has a record number of almost 34,000 police officers, backed by 1,300 community support officers, 1,300 specials and almost 11,000 staff in administrative roles.

Labour said Mr Khan was investing an extra £151m in policing.

All of the main candidates have pledged to increase the number of police officers on the street

Mr Blackie has also said he will free up police for neighbourhood policing by "reducing wasted time on stop and search for cannabis, which could add the equivalent of another 100 police officers".

Green candidate Zoe Garbett has also said she would overhaul stop and search and had long supported a policy to de-prioritise the policing of cannabis, arguing that she would offer a drastic rethink on this as well as the climate crisis.

At the last three elections the Liberal Democrat candidate received less than 5% of the vote and lost their £10,000 deposit.

The Lib Dems are currently the fourth party on the London Assembly with two members compared to the Greens on three.

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His other priority is to end bus cuts and provide more investment into Tube maintenance.

His party is the only one that has said it will reverse the mayor's Tube fare freeze as he argued it was done "for short term political gain" and that it will "only benefit tourists". He said the money will be reinvested into Transport for London (TfL).

Earlier this year Sadiq Khan announced he would freeze fares until March 2025.

Conservative Susan Hall has accused the mayor of trying to buy votes ahead of the election with this fare freeze but did not say whether she would reverse this pledge if elected.

Mr Blackie, a former adviser to the late Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, will also look at creating a scheme that lends money to businesses to buy Ulez compliant vehicles as well as allowing people to claim scrappage retrospectively.

Mr Khan has said he will keep the Ulez rules as they are, while Ms Hall says she will scrap it.

The Green's candidate Zoe Garbett says Ulez is a good scheme done badly and she wants a consultation on road pricing.

Candidates have clashed on Ulez policy

Other policies that the Liberal Democrats announced include creating a London passport for EU citizens so that they "will know they are safe".

"With our London Passport we will defend them against the excesses of an incompetent - sometimes hostile - Home Office," he added.

He will also look at bringing in a voluntary tourist tax that will be added to hotel bills. He says the money gathered from the tax will go towards funding his plans for the Met.

Mr Blackie is also keen to implement new climate policies.

"I've worked on environmental issues my whole life. I know what we need to do to tackle climate change. And I also know that 'going green' can't be about sacrifice," he said.

His pledged to build more green homes, more solar on roofs and increase the number of electric car charging points. He will also stop Thames Water dumping sewage in the river.

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