Starmer says “vast” change required following damning report into Met Police

Keir Starmer has said “vast” change is required after the publication of Baroness Louise Casey’s report into the Metropolitan Police, which concluded that there is “institutional racism, sexism and homophobia” within the force.

Casey’s report – published today and commissioned following the murder of Sarah Everard by serving police officer Wayne Couzens – concluded that there are “systemic and fundamental problems” in how the Met is run.

Writing in the Times, Casey said she was “appalled” by what she had discovered and that the force was “institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic” and “unable to police itself from the very worst wrongdoing”.

The report found that 12% of women in the Met had been harassed or attacked at work, and Casey described the force as “failing women and children”. Casey’s report concluded that if progress is not made on its recommendations, “more radical, structural options” such as “dividing up” the service should be considered.

The Labour leader described the report as “tough but essential reading”, saying: “The sexist, racist and homophobic abuses of power that have run rife in the Met have shattered the trust that Britain’s policing relies on and let victims down.

“For 13 years, there has been a void of leadership from the Home Office, which has seen Britain’s policing fall far below the standards the public have the right to expect.”

In a press conference this afternoon, Starmer said: “There needs to be a reckoning and there needs to be change.” On the possible dissolution of the Met, he argued that, while change was necessary, he did not think “breaking up into smaller units is the change we need.”

Starmer asserted that the force needs “root and branch change from top to bottom”, reiterating comments he made in January after police officer David Carrick pled guilty to multiple counts of rape committed while he was a serving officer.

In a ministerial statement on Casey’s report this afternoon, Home Secretary Suella Braverman acknowledged “serious failures of culture, leadership and standards within the Metropolitan Police”. Yvette Cooper described Braverman’s statement as “dangerously complacent”.

The Shadow Home Secretary said the report was “thorough, forensic and truly damning”, adding that it made clear that the force was “failing women and children” and “predatory and unacceptable behaviour have been allowed to thrive”.

In a statement on the report, London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The evidence is damning. Baroness Casey has found institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia, which I accept. She has described the Met as defensive, resistant to change and unwilling to engage with communities.”

His statement continued: “I see police reform as a critical part of my mayoralty, and I will not be satisfied until Londoners have the police service they deserve – one that is trusted, representative and delivers the highest possible service to every community in our city as we work to build a safer London for everyone.”

Sarah Jones commended Baroness Casey for leaving “no stone unturned” in her report, telling Sky News that the Met “cannot police itself”.

The shadow policing minister said the report made clear that while “policing attracts the best of humanity”, it will “also attract predators and people who do harm”. She added: “In the same way that we have changed systems in education or in medicine, we need to do the same in policing.”

Jess Phillips commented that she was “eternally grateful” to Casey for a report that she said “laid bare what anyone who has worked in space of child, domestic [and] sexual abuse knew to be the case”.

The shadow domestic violence minister said the report was “grim reading” but added that she “will not rest” until the realities outlined in the report are “an actual priority not just a rushed statement of warm words and faux horror”.

The Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said he fully accepts the report’s findings and that he “respects” Casey using the term “institutionally racist” but that he himself would not, saying it was a “very ambiguous” term.