Mayor to fight for Met’s £5m royal wedding bill

Boris Johnson will attempt to claim back the estimated £5million cost of policing the royal wedding from the Government.

The Mayor has made clear his determination to explore all avenues to recoup the cost of providing security for the April 29 ceremony for Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The Met police is in financial dire straits, with a £30.4million cut in its Home Office grant this year having resulted in a freeze in officer recruitment and the loss of 955 posts.

Yesterday commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said: "We can make significant economy savings, but how far we can stretch those savings is a real issue. I am concerned about our current budgetary situation."

Now it has emerged that Mr Johnson will push the Government to cover as much of the cost of the royal wedding as possible — following the precedent set by the policing of the G20 summit last year.

That event, at the ExCeL centre in Docklands, was attended by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and American president Barack Obama, and cost the Met £7.4million.

Of this, £4million was judged to be "additional costs" and the force received a £3.8million reimbursement from the Home Office.

Asked by Joanne McCartney, a Labour member of the London Assembly, whether central government should pay for the extra policing costs of the royal wedding, Mr Johnson replied: "I will be exploring this option."

Ms McCartney, who represents Enfield and Haringey, told the Standard: "It's right that the nation picks up the tab, and not just London's police, who are already facing increased pressure and costs due to policing demonstrations against this government's drastic cuts."

The wedding ceremony will be paid for by the Queen and Miss Middleton's family, but security costs will fall to the state.

Police are relieved that the couple chose to marry at Westminster Abbey rather than St Paul's Cathedral, as the procession route will be much shorter — and therefore cheaper to police.

However, the decision to make the wedding day a bank holiday will dramatically increase costs as officers on duty will earn double pay.

In the year to March, the Met ran up a £41.6million bill policing 49 major events where 300 or more officers were required.

The biggest cost, £12.8million, was incurred at the Tamil ceasefire demonstrations between April and June last year, which saw several attempts to storm Parliament by protesters.

The Mayor is also under pressure to ensure that Parliament Square is cleared of its "peace camp" in time for the royal wedding.