Mayor Seeks £20 Council Tax Rise to Fund Record £1.22bn Police Budget and Phone Theft Crackdown

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has proposed a £20.13-a-year increase in the GLA council tax precept for an average Band D household — equivalent to £1.68 a month — as part of his draft 2026–27 budget. The rise is split between a £15 policing precept increase, expected to raise an additional £60 million, and a £5.13 increase allocated entirely to the London Fire Brigade.

The total policing allocation would reach a record £1.22 billion — described by City Hall as more than double the previous mayor's final budget — supporting neighbourhood policing and a crackdown on phone theft. While knife crime and personal robbery have both fallen 15 per cent in the 12 months to November 2025, and homicides have dropped to their lowest per-capita rate since records began, phone theft has risen in recent years driven by an international criminal trade in handsets. The budget funds a package of measures to tackle it, including enforcement blitzes, proactive targeting of known offenders, drone deployment, and specialist officers trained to use e-bikes to pursue suspects in the West End, where 40 per cent of London's mobile phone thefts occur.

Neighbourhood crime across London has fallen 14.6 per cent this financial year, amounting to 16,000 fewer offences. The budget also includes a new £2.4 million support package for victims of Child Sexual Exploitation.

Beyond policing, the draft budget confirms £100 million for free school meals for all state primary pupils in 2026–27, and £400,000 — contributed via the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation — toward the business case for the West London Orbital, a proposed new rail link running from Hounslow toward Hendon.