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Schemes to prevent young Londoners excluded from school becoming caught up in violence are among a £55 million package of crime-fighting measures announced today.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said he would divert business rates for the third successive year to fund preventative measures such as peer-mentoring for teenagers sent to pupil referral units.

It means more than £100 million of his budget for 2020-21 will be used to tackle violent crime, including efforts to disrupt the “county lines” drugs trade.

Average council tax bills are due to increase by £11.56 to £332.07 from April, including an extra £10 for the Met police — the maximum allowed by the Government.

Of the £1 billion the Mayor will receive from council tax, £767m will go to the Met. He said he was “using every financial lever at his disposal” to invest in youth and crime prevention services.

Tories claim that almost 1,600 more police officers could be hired by axing City Hall “waste”.

They have proposed reducing the Greater London Authority staffing bill by £23.5m, removing free travel passes from friends and family of Transport for London staff and axing extra funds for London fire brigade to implement post-Grenfell changes.