Mayor threatens 'big stick' of monthly budget targets for Met

MAYOR Ken Livingstone today threatened to use "the big stick" of monthly performance targets to shake up the "medieval" financing of the Metropolitan Police.

Mr Livingstone, who took control of Met finances from the government last year, warned that unless the force could find ways of cutting down the "terrible waste" of the past, he would be forced to introduce monthly spending reviews.

Mr Livingstone, who believes efficiency savings could help slash the 2 billion annual budget by 200 million, said: "They have to know that I've got a big stick. If necessary, if the Metropolitan Police Authority members are too bureaucratic and slow and there is not progress in identifying those savings, then next year's budget will be released on a monthly basis tied to specific performance targets."

Mr Livingstone has already given the Met extra money to put extra officers on the beat in return for cooperation in finding ways of cutting costs in areas such as sickness arrangements, overtime and early retirement. But Mr Livingstone believes the police authority - which consists of GLA members and other appointees - has been slow to identify savings.

As a result, he said, he may have to use his power to set the authority's overall budget - which he describes as "like something out of the medieval era" - to ensure the success of his plans. His move towards a radical overhaul of the Met's finances comes in the same week that Home Secretary David Blunkett prepares for a similar rethink for all forces.

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