• IN the light of your focus on crime in London (Stopping the drug dealers, March 5), it may be worth remembering that in 2010 a Conservative Mayor of London imposed a 20 per cent cut on the Metropolitan Police Service leading to the loss of some 1,500 officers who were, of course, not replaced.

This accompanied a very substantial loss of custody facilities and swingeing cuts to the courts service.

You mention that crime in London is at an 11-year high, a period which almost exactly parallels that between 2010 and the present day. Do you feel that there may be lessons to be learned?

CHRIS FAGG,
Gospel Oak