It's no surprise Palestine marches have drained the Met's coffers

Much has been made of the supposedly peaceful nature of the weekly Palestine marches. But public order comes at a price. Yesterday, it emerged that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wrote to the Home Secretary to request more funds for police officers, pointing out that Scotland Yard was facing a £240 million funding gap because of the demonstrations.

Since 7 October, he wrote, more than 28,000 officer shifts had been consumed by policing the protests in London. On top of this, the near-daily stunts mounted by Just Stop Oil – staged presumably when they are taking a break from creating havoc in railway stations for Palestine – have cost the force £20 million since their first campaign last year, requiring about 300 officers per day being taken away from frontline policing across London. This, of course, is troubling for the rest of the capital.