City Hall has hosted a behind closed doors security meeting, including the Met Police and London borough chief executives, as part of work for response to a terrorist attack.
The new Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has stressed that keeping Londoners safe is a top priority. The London At Critical event was described as one of a number of meetings that are regularly held between the Met and London’s businesses and council chiefs to oversee the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy in London. Among those at the meeting was Lord Toby Harris of Haringey, who Khan appointed to review London agencies’ ability to cope with what the authorities term ‘multiple simultaneous incidents’.
The meeting was organised by the London CONTEST Board, which was created by the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) with the Met and London councils last year.
Sophie Linden, Deputy Mayor for Policing And Crime, was among the speakers. She said: “The Mayor’s top priority is keeping Londoners safe, and partnership working is vital to ensure a fast, effective and streamlined multi-agency response in the event of a terrorist attack. Events like this provide the opportunity to play out scenarios and share information, helping to ensure London is able to cope should the worst happen. As well as ensuring our uniformed services are prepared for all scenarios, we are also working closely with the police and local communities to root out extremism, stop the spread of vile ideologies and encourage the integration of communities across the capital.”
Separately, a City Hall Knife Crime Summit is due to take place in October. Its aim; to bring together stakeholders, partners and decision makers to consider the impact of knife crime in London. In July Sophie Linden attended the launch of a cross-party Youth Violence Commission, set up by Vicky Foxcroft, Labour MP for Lewisham and Deptford, after the murders of five young people in that south London constituency.
