Notting Hill Carnival keeps getting bigger while the problems keep getting worse

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The Leader of the London Conservatives has spoken out on the level of lawlessness at Notting Hill Carnival

It’s about time we were honest about the extent to which the Notting Hill Carnival has got out of hand, and took proactive steps to actually do something about it.

I’ve been quite clear for years that I think the event should be moved to one of London’s parks, where it could be fenced off and managed by proper security, charging tickets that would actually help fund the event rather than relying on UN the taxpayer to make it happen.

But it seems so many people just do not want to face up to the facts.

Let’s look at a few different large crowd events in London, starting with the smallest: protests. In May this year, the Met Police spent an estimated £4.5m policing rival protests between Tommy Robinson and Pro-Palestinian protestors.

By the end of the day, 43 people had been arrested for various offences. On the same day, as part of the same spend, police also covered the FA Cup final at Wembley, where 22 people were arrested.

Meanwhile, in July, almost a million people descended on central London for Pride, where, for an estimated policing cost of less than £2m, fewer than a dozen people ended up in police custody.

Then we come to Notting Hill Carnival: a million people from across the country cramming into the narrow streets of Notting Hill. Estimated policing cost: £16m, and rising. Number of arrests? At the time of writing, 560, which is expected to rise.

We can’t carry on pretending that Notting Hill Carnival isn’t getting out of hand. Every year we are treated to scenes on social media that depict overcrowded streets where police and first aiders can barely get through.

Reports begin to emerge of weapons seized, gangs attacking one another, and members of the public getting caught - in some cases literally - in the crossfire.

Hundreds are arrested. This just isn’t acceptable, frankly. The number of crimes rises every year, too - in 2017, 330 people were arrested at Notting Hill, a figure which has now ballooned to a record 560. It is only going to get worse with time as the event gets bigger and bigger.

So when will the Mayor act? When will authorities intervene to make clear that they won’t permit the event to go ahead without adequate measures to ensure safety and reduce criminality?

For how long will taxpayers be on the hook, with police resources diverted from communities across the city, because the organisers of Notting Hill Carnival fail to get a grip on the scale of the crisis before them?

It’s time that London got a grip on the lawlessness at Notting Hill Carnival - in my opinion this cannot go on.