Met police chief denies ‘intervening in politics’ after open letter to Zack Polanski – UK politics live | Politics

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Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley denies ‘interfering in politics’ after writing open letter to Zack Polanski Police officers arrested the Golders Green attack suspect along the way.

He accused Polanski of fueling “rising tensions” After the Green Party leader reshared a post on

In an open letter published on social media, Rowley said: “disappointed” empowered by politicians “Inaccurate and ill-informed comment” that “undermines the confidence of officers to take action”.

The public debate came days before local elections, with commentators questioning whether Rowley’s letter breached regulations banning police from engaging in political activity.

Rowley denied that the letter to Polanski meant he was “interfering in politics.”

“When someone of influence puts forward something that is wrong and could undermine the confidence of my officers to protect Londoners, they need to see that I support them in giving them that confidence to go ahead and do their job,” he told Times Radio.

“I do not intervene in politics. “It was interfering with operational policing and I need to defend my officers’ ability to do that.”

A Green Party source said: “Zack saw the video like everyone else, he doesn’t know the full picture and he knows this is a very difficult situation for the authorities, but we need to know more about the response.”

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In other news police are assessing whether nationwide marches can continue as ministers are under pressure over the timing and details of the prime minister’s announcement Additional measures against protests.

Yesterday Keir Starmer vowed to crack down on “those who venerate Jew murder” at protest marches as the terror threat level in the UK was raised to “severe” following the Golders Green attack.

Rowley told broadcasters this morning: “Concerned” about the scale of upcoming protests and its power “I’m taking a hard look at what conditions and powers we need to use.”Justice Secretary Alex Davies-Jones claimed it was a “fact” of pro-Palestinian marches “Anti-Semitic activity.”