Sadiq Khan is shutting down scrutiny of the police to save his own skin, says Susan Hall

With the election looming, Sadiq Khan must be feeling the heat. Next May, he will face me at the ballot box, forcing him to defend his appalling record as London Mayor. Mayor Khan needs to be honest with the electorate, not brush his failings under the rug.

As the Mayoral candidate and an Assembly Member, I scrutinise the Mayor and his deputies every week. It’s my job to hold him to account, to keep his toes to the fire, and to make sure Londoners know what he is up to.

This week I found out Mayor Khan is effectively shutting down scrutiny of the police force he is responsible for, the Met, by filling his new scrutiny board with his own appointees. All in a desperate attempt to put the lid on his litany of embarrassing failures.

Across the board, the Mayor has let Londoners down: on policing, on transport, and on housing.

Try as he might, he cannot stop his failings coming out before the election.

One of the main things I have learned about Sadiq Khan is that he really does not like being held to account. So much so, this week we found out that he took matters into his own hands and decreed that everyone appointed to the new board overseeing the Met Police must be approved by him.

This is nothing more than a shameless move to cover his own back, by a man more interested in protecting his own image than protecting Londoners from criminals.

For years, the Met has been held to account by the Police and Crime Committee, a group of elected London Assembly members. I’ve chaired this cross-party group myself, and let me tell you, we do not pull our punches and nor should we.

Our work has exposed some of the biggest issues within the police, whether it’s failings in how they search for missing children, or the scandalous mishandling of Daniel Morgan’s murder.

But the Mayor does not like accountability, because shining a light on his failures gives him no place to hide. Instead, he sneers at democracy and marks his own homework.

The Met Police Commissioner has admitted that his team will be forced to prioritise attending the Mayor’s new board instead of the Police and Crime Committee, as they do not have time for both.

The consequences of this are serious. Crime has been spiralling out of control in Sadiq Khan’s London. The city is about a third more violent now than it was when he was elected. And criminals are more brazen than ever, robbing people and brandishing machetes in broad daylight.

I know what it is like to feel unsafe. I have been a victim of crime in London myself, when I was confronted with a death threat at my business. Londoners shouldn’t have to live in fear. We deserve a police force that is looking out for the city.

The Met is in special measures for the first time in its history, mired in scandal, and appears to be giving up on investigating so-called ‘minor’ crimes like burglaries and thefts at the drop of a hat. It has created an awful situation where victims fear the police and the criminals do not.

You would think that Mayor Khan would want to get a grip of this.

Yet he has a chequered past with the police. As a lefty lawyer he was hellbent on suing the police and even protected dodgy coppers from facing the full force of the law.

It does not have to be like this. I’m a Londoner, I’ve lived here all my life, and I am sick and tired of our city – the city my children grew up in – being held to ransom by this man and his selfishness.

Londoners deserve so much better.

That’s why I am running to be your next Mayor of London. Not because I want to flog a book, or schmooze with celebs like Mayor Khan, but because I am passionate about this city, and I want to see it restored to its former glory.

I want us to feel safe again. We have got to get a grip on crime. It is so upsetting that many women feel that they cannot turn to the police for help: we simply must change that.

The police have got to rebuild trust and boot out any toxic or corrupt officers. I want to see our bobbies getting back on the beat and doing what they do best: stopping crime.

That should be Sadiq Khan’s priority right now, not covering his tracks.

I can tell you this. As Mayor, it will be my priority from day one. I will put things right and make London safe for everyone.

Susan Hall is the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London.