Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the cost of (a) overtime payments, (b) equipment, (c) special measures and (d) mutual aid from the policing of protests outside the Royal Mint court on (i) 8 February and (ii) 5 March 2025.

The Home Secretary has regular meetings with all policing leaders, including the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), covering a range of matters.

The police are operationally independent from the government. This means that the Home Office is unable to direct the police to take any particular operational decision, including those around the management of protests. How the police resource such events, including the management of overtime and other logistical considerations, is a matter for the police to decide. However, the Government expects the police to enforce the law as is necessary to maintain public safety.