Two-tier policing of protests is REAL: Damning report into the Met requires Labour mayor Sadiq Khan to be stripped of management
Two-tier policing of protests is ‘not merely a perception but a reality’ in Britain’s biggest force, a damning report has revealed.
Scotland Yard is prioritising the rights of demonstrators over the ordinary public, failing to make arrests and treating some protest groups more leniently, which may lead the public to believe ‘the forces of law and order have lost control of the streets and yielded control to a mob,’ according to a new assessment.
A report by the think tank Policy Exchange has called for the Metropolitan Police to be put back into ‘special measures’ due to its failure to handle protests properly and tackle runaway rates of mobile phone thefts, burglary and shoplifting.
In a stark assessment of the Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley‘s three years in office, the report points to public confidence in the force falling to an all-time low as many residents and visitors believe ‘there is a culture of impunity to crime in London‘.
It comes as the force is solving only a tiny fraction of thefts, identifying the culprit in merely 1 in 20 robberies and burglaries, 1 in 13 shoplifting offences and 1 in 179 street muggings.
Now the Policy Exchange wants London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan to be stripped of responsibility for the Met’s oversight, saying the Home Secretary should be given the power to ensure the force’s performance improves.
Entitled ‘A Long, Long Way To Go’, the report criticises the force for choosing ‘to prioritise the rights of protestors over the rights of the wider public’ and accuses officers of doing more to protect Muslims over the Jewish community in various demonstrations.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley speaking outside New Scotland Yard in October
It says: ‘With the apparently differential treatment of different groups based on either the cause of the protest or the identity of those protesting, it has become increasingly clear that “two-tier policing” is not merely a perception but a reality.
‘This inconsistent application of police powers and the law is perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of modern policing – a factor which has seriously damaged policing’s reputation for fairness in the eyes of many.’
In one example cited, the force applied for ‘very stringent conditions’ in a United Kingdom Independence Party protest in Tower Hamlets on October 25, on the grounds that the area had the largest percentage of Muslim residents in the UK and the protest caused ‘significant concern locally’.
The report said: ‘Such a decision may well have been justified on the grounds of preventing serious public disorder. However, the willingness of the police to impose such stringent restrictions to safeguard the local Muslim population, while apparently being unwilling to go similarly far on behalf of the Jewish community or the broader public at previous events, indicates a readiness among senior officers to apply different standards to different groups.
‘If the rationale for the force’s decision is because they feared public disorder from those resisting the protest it is tantamount to an admission that ‘mob-rule’ has taken priority over the rule of law – an unacceptable state of affairs.’
The report also found: ‘Too often police choose to prioritise the rights and freedoms of protestors over the rights of ordinary people going about their daily lives’, with officers failing to arrest those committing criminal damage or shouting ‘jihad’ at pro-Palestinian rallies.
It called for the Met to face an inspection on its approach to protests, saying there needs to be transparency about decision-making.
Elsewhere, the Policy Exchange suggested officers and staff be measured on crime fighting, with those failing to deliver being removed from their posts.
In the latest public survey, only 45 per cent of Londoners believe the force is doing a good job, down from 69 per cent in 2016.
Police station front counters have shut at a record rate, with just two set to remain open 24 hours a day in a city of 9 million people.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on a visit to the Metropolitan Police Command and Control Centre
Meanwhile, 81,279 mobile phones were stolen in London last year and shoplifting has risen threefold in only four years to 93,705 offences in 2024/25.
The Policy Exchange blamed Sir Sadiq for reducing stop and search saying this ‘has had a catastrophic impact on the fight against crime’.
The report praised the Met’s record reductions in homicide, but said: ‘There is certainly no indication of the force taking a “zero tolerance” to anything other than the most serious crimes.
‘Until this changes the belief that many residents and visitors have, that there is a culture of impunity to crime in London, will continue.’
Met Commander Hayley Sewart said: ‘Our New Met for London plan is delivering significant improvements on the issues that matter most to our communities and crime is falling across London.
‘Since April, offences like theft, robbery and vehicle crime are down nearly 15 per cent compared to the same period last year and officers are arresting around 1,000 more criminals every month.
‘At the same time, knife-enabled crime has reduced by 16 per cent and knife-enabled robbery by more than 23 per cent in the past year, and homicide in London is also at a 10-year low.
‘Despite a £260million funding gap and amid a shrinking Met, we are protecting neighbourhood policing, response policing and public protection so we can be there where and when the public needs us.’
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: ‘Nothing is more important to the Mayor than keeping London safe and he continues to lead the way by being tough on crime with a record £1.16billion support for the police this year alone and tough on the complex causes of crime through the country’s first Violence Reduction Unit which is leading an approach rooted in prevention and intervention.’
