Most Londoners doubt mayor's 'seriousness' in tackling phone theft, poll reveals

Almost two thirds of Londoners do not believe that mayor Sir Sadiq Khan takes the issue of phone theft “very seriously” or “seriously at all”, according to polling commissioned by City Hall Conservatives. In a new report, the London Assembly’s Tory group argues that the Labour mayor has allowed overall theft in the capital to grow to “epidemic proportions” and says the mayor is “utterly uninterested” in tackling the problem.

Sir Sadiq’s office insisted he is “supporting the Met with record funding to redouble efforts to tackle the scourge of phone thefts, with increased police patrols and plain-clothed operations in hotspot areas”. More generally, they said he is “committed to revitalising neighbourhood policing”. But polling by YouGov, published within the Conservatives’ report, found that 62 per cent of the roughly 1,030 adult Londoners surveyed were now “more cautious” when using their phone out and about in London than they were a year ago.

Some 56 per cent believed that London is less safe now than it was ten years ago, with just 5 per cent of respondents believing that London is now safer. Furthermore, some 63 per cent believed the mayor does not take the issue of phone theft “very seriously” or “seriously at all”. Even among those who voted Labour in the 2024 general election, the equivalent figure only dropped to 48 per cent.

In the year to March 2016, just prior to Sir Sadiq’s election as mayor, some 1.76m theft offences were recorded across England and Wales, of which roughly 359,000 took place in London. As well as ‘theft from the person’, these offences include burglary, shoplifting and thefts from or of vehicles. In the year to September 2024 - the most recent 12-month period for which data is available - the national figure had risen by only 3 per cent to reach almost 1.81m, whereas the London-specific figure had jumped 33 per cent to reach 477,000.

In particular, phone theft in the capital has risen significantly. FOI data from the Met Police reveals that some 115,000 phones were stolen in London in 2023, up from about 91,000 in 2022. The Tory report, ‘Tackling London’s Theft Epidemic’, calls on the mayor to allocate £7m of ringfenced funding for the creation of a dedicated Theft Reduction Unit, with specifically recruited officers able to “concentrate their resources solely on organised crime groups”.

Neil Garratt, City Hall Conservatives’ leader, writes: “Many Londoners have experienced having their phone or bike stolen and reporting the crime to the Met, sometimes with its live-tracked location, only to find the case closed in less than twenty-four hours. “No investigation, no attempt to find the criminal responsible, and no justice for the victim. The whole process appears to have simply become an elongated front for receiving a crime reference number for insurance purposes.”.

The report has been endorsed by shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who said certain crimes had been “effectively decriminalised” in the capital. Asked by the Standard if he accepted that a lack of police resourcing and funding may be part of the problem, and whether the last Conservative Government’s austerity programme played a role in that, Croydon South MP Mr Philp said: “I think that’s complete nonsense, that is an excuse.

“The Metropolitan Police has more funding today than it’s ever had before. Its per capita funding is higher than any other police force in the country…. “While of course, as a London MP, I’ll always support more funding for the Met, it is not true to say that it has a resourcing issue.”. Mr Philp’s comments are at odds with the repeated warnings over recent months from Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who says the force is facing a funding gap of hundreds of millions of pounds, and could be forced to make significant cuts to officer numbers as a result.

Shortly before Christmas, the Government announced that as part of the 2025-26 police funding settlement, the Met will receive £255.2m through the National and International Capital City grant, an increase of £65m compared to the 2024-25 settlement. It remains unclear however what precise difference this funding will make in terms of any cuts the Met is preparing to make over the coming year. A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: “Thanks to the hard work of the police and intervention work led by London’s Violence Reduction Unit, personal robbery is down 13 per cent in the capital compared to the same period last year.

“The mayor is supporting the Met with record funding to redouble efforts to tackle the scourge of phone thefts, with increased police patrols and plain-clothed operations in hotspot areas, including the West End and Westminster, where nearly 40 per cent of phone thefts occur. “Sadiq is committed to revitalising local neighbourhood policing under the New Met for London Plan but the police can’t defeat this industrial scale crime on their own. That’s why the mayor is pushing for the mobile phone industry to go further to prevent stolen phones being used, sold and repurposed, using all the technology at their disposal to help us build a safer London for all.”.