• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

MayorWatch

London News and Comment

  • NEWS
  • Twitter

Sadiq accused of “poor leadership” after blaming civil servants for failures in police station closure consultation

November 16, 2017 - Martin Hoscik@MayorWatch

Sadiq Khan has been criticised after blaming non-political City Hall civil servants for failures in a consultation on police station closures.

As reported earlier this week, the consultation by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime was severely criticised by the independent Consultation Institute.

Challenged during Mayor’s Question Time over the body’s report, Mr Khan said he disagreed with its conclusions but added he’s asked policing deputy mayor Sophie Linden to meet with its staff “to see if there are lessons we can learn going forward”.

Pushing the Mayor on the detail of the criticisms, Conservative London Assembly Member Steve O’Connell said they go into “perhaps more detail than some of your officers maybe brief you on” and highlighted concerns relating to failures of transparency and the posing of leading questions to respondents.

In response Mr Khan replied: “one of the problems when you use the same officers as Boris Johnson uses they use the same tactics, I suppose.”

While each Mayor is allowed to appoint a small number of political advisers, the overwhelming majority of staff at City Hall are non-political civil servants whose service often spans Mayoralties and whose employment status means they lack any public right of reply.

Today’s comments are the latest attempt by Mr Khan to distance himself from the consultation.

In September he tried ducking responsibility for a series of public meetings held so Londoners could have their say on the closures, telling Assembly Members they were “organised locally” by councils and individual Met borough commanders, despite the closures forming part of his own Police and Crime Plan.

Speaking after today’s meeting, Mr O’Connell said: “It’s extremely disappointing that Sadiq Khan today chose to cast blame on his own staff rather than take responsibility for the failings of his police station consultation.
 
“It was a display of poor leadership from a Mayor who has refused to listen to the public on this issue. An independent body labelled the consultation ‘one of the worst of 2017’ – that is the Mayor’s responsibility and one he must accept.
 
“Today he was given a chance to reflect on his shortcomings. Having exhausted every excuse, he eventually hid behind voiceless civil servants. His staff, and Londoners, deserve better.”

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

RECENT UPDATES

Tube and rail users to benefit from Oyster weekly fares cap

Mayor and TfL call on ministers to help plug funding gap

Tube to get full mobile phone coverage from 2024

TfL says Direct Vision Standard is already making HGVs safer for London road users




POPULAR

City Hall to move to Docklands as Mayor seeks to raise £55m for frontline services

‘Concern’ over TfL’s ability to deliver major projects in wake of Crossrail cost overruns

City Hall halts London Overground ticket office closures but many will still see opening hours reduced

Transport for London confirms bus cuts will go ahead despite passenger opposition

GOT A STORY?

As the original London news and scrutiny site we've been casting an eye over the capital's public services and politicians since 1999.

 

Many of our top stories started with a tip-off from a reader - if you've got something you'd like us to cover get in touch and we'll do the rest.

Stay In Touch

  • E-mail
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.