A small percentage of reported burglaries in west London are being solved by police, according to the Labour London Assembly Group.

And it says detection rates could fall still further with swingeing cuts to the Met’s budget planned.

In west London, the borough with the best burglary detection rate in 2014/15 was Westminster, which solved 10%, but Harrow had the worst with just 4%.

Across London, the statistics from the Met Police show burglary detection rate has dropped from 12% in 2010/11 to 6% in 2014/15. Labour says during the same period the force’s budget was cut by £600m.

London Assembly member Murad Qureshi said he is growing increasingly concerned about the Met’s ability to deal with £800m of further budget cuts without a significant impact on front-line services.

His comments come after the Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe was forced to deny suggestions that budget cuts could stop the force investigating low level crimes such as burglaries.

Problems could be exacerbated if PCSOs are also axed.

Mr Qureshi said: “The fact that these burglaries in west London are going unsolved shows that London’s police service is already being stretched to the limit. With the Met’s plans to cut all PCSOs likely to undermine vital links with communities, the police simply won’t have the local intelligence needed to drive down burglaries.”

Borough Burglary detection rate %
Harrow 4
Brent 6
Ealing 7
Hounslow 7
Hammersmith & Fulham 8
Hillingdon 9
Kensington & Chelsea 9
Westminster 10