The number of police officers in the capital could be increased to nearly 1,400 by cutting more than a third of City Hall staff, the Conservative Party has claimed.

These calls – alongside other proposals from the Greater London Authority Conservative Group – came earlier today during the London Assembly plenary meeting to discuss Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s draft budget for 2019.

The Tory group proposed a number of amendments to Mr Khan’s proposals which it said would allow for an additional 1,378 police officers in the capital.

Leader of the Conservative Group, Gareth Bacon, said: “London is no more complex now than it was in 2016 but there has been an increase in the number of City Hall bureaucrats rather than police officers.

“The Mayor routinely pleads poverty and blames government for dwindling police numbers, but he is taking Londoners for fools.”

In addition to reducing his staffing budget by £19 million the proposals called on the mayor to take £1.4 million and £2.2 million out of the external affairs and culture budgets respectively.

They also called on Mr Khan to withdraw the £13 million he spends on London and Partners – his international promotion agency for the capital.

Mr Bacon said: “When the bragging and PR is put to one side from Mr Khan’s record then all that remains is finger pointing and buck passing.”

The Tory proposals also called on Mr Khan to make savings on Transport for London’s (TfL) budget – which is part of the GLA budget.

The proposals said TfL should scrap the nominee passes scheme, which allows TfL employees to hand out free travel cards to anyone living at their address – costing £32.7 million per year.

Mr Bacon also called Mr Khan to cancelg the junk food adverts ban on TfL networks and reduce the amount the transport body pays for employees to work on union duties.

He added: “Our fully-costed plan would enable Sadiq Khan to reduce some budgets to the same levels as just two years ago while freeing up enough cash to put almost 1,400 extra bobbies on the beat.”

Mr Bacon also hit out at Mr Khan for how he was dealing with the housing crisis in the capital.

Mr Khan aims to build between 17,000 and 23,000 homes by 2020.

Between 2017 and 2018 12,555 homes were built, with only 2,400 constructed in the last six months.

Mr Bacon said: “There has been glacially slow progress on the Mayor of London’s housing. This is a dreadful record.”

He also pointed out Mr Khan had only just met his targets for homes built last year because he counted the Royal Wharf Phase Three development in Newham and Millharbour Plaza development in Tower Hamlets in both 2016 and 2017 housing records.

But Assembly Members voted against the Conservative Group’s proposals.

Liberal Democrat Assembly member, Caroline Pidgeon, said: “It is sticking plaster to show you believe in policing when your Government is cutting it.”

Mr Khan will present his full budget to the Assembly in February.