LONDON mayoral candidate Howard Cox has pledged to triple the number of police officers on the streets if he is elected.

He told GB News: “At any one time there’s only about 5% to 10% [of police] who are actually walking the streets of London.

“That’s 90% that aren’t and yet we’ve got that many bobbies – now I’m going to triple the number of bobbies.

“One of the things is obviously I’ve got to look at what the black hole deficit I’m going to inherit because it’s huge.

“It’s got a £20 billion budget, but every single policeman I’ve talked to has said you’ve only got to get us away from behind the desk and we’ll come out.”

In a discussion with Tom Harwood, he continued: “It’s not going to be a huge expenditure but one of the bigger initiatives that I’m suggesting is that we need to help with the safety aspect of this, is to create public police access points in 24-hour outlets like supermarkets, McDonald’s, and places like that, which will be booths manned by policemen.

“Hopefully, I can convince Tesco and people like that to actually fund it, but it’s good for them because it’s going to stop shoplifting. They will be places for people to go to feel safer, and hopefully deter crooks.

“But the other thing which is very interesting indeed is that 5G broadband is very bad in Greater London. So we need to get that really up and running and really much more effective, because then someone…can get to the police and get help quickly.”

On London ULEZ extension, he said: “If it’s done its job, we don’t need it anymore. London emissions have rocketed downwards and we’ve got to recognise that there’s no point in hitting people more in the pocket.

“I’m going to get rid of low traffic neighbourhoods, 20 miles an hour zones, all those sorts of things. And sorry to say to cyclists who are listening to this, I’m going to get rid of some of the excessively huge cycle lanes too.”