A car theft summit -- bringing together police, councillors and community leaders -- is being proposed by the new Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson to tackle the repeated theft of vehicles from local roads.

He is now having discussions on ways to work out a plan of action and hopes to arrange a meeting later in the year.

When canvassing for support before the July general election Mr Tomlinson said he had been shocked to find reports of car thefts in almost every street he had visited. Trying to counter this would be a priority if he became an MP.

He has now discussed the idea with local police chiefs who were keen to consider what could be done to bring down car thefts.

Mr Tomlinson raised recent cuts to London policing – and the closure of the front counter at High Barnet police station – during the first Prime Minister’s questions held by Sir Keir Starmer.

He said the previous Conservative government’s cuts to police in London, which had taken a billion pounds out of the budgets for London policing, had forced the closure of both the police stations in the Chipping Barnet constituency – at Chipping Barnet (above) and at Whetstone.

Although the police station is Barnet High Street no longer has a front counter to deal with requests from the public, the building remains in use by the Metropolitan Police and houses neighbourhood police teams.

Mr Tomlinson asked the Prime Minister if the new Labour government agreed about the importance of retaining police stations serving the public and the need to rebuild local policing.

To cheers from backbenchers, Sir Keir welcomed Mr Tomlinson as the first-ever Labour MP for Chipping Barnet. He was confident the new MP would serve the constituency with pride.

Labour was already committed to a fully funded plan for hiring an 13,000 extra neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers to be put back on the streets of Britain.

“Dan Tomlinson is right to say the last government hammered police numbers. It is telling that the former justice secretary admitted this could have been done differently.”

At an election husting at Barnet Parish Church, Mr Tomlinson complained about what he said had been a drastic reduction in police officers in Chipping Barnet.

There were now 80 local officers across the Borough of Barnet when back in 2010 there were 200 which he said explained why residents did not see officers on the streets anymore.

Labour had promised 3,000 more police officers in London and if elected he would make sure the constituency received its fair share.

*Until the constituency changed hands in the July 2024 general election, Chipping Barnet had been held by the Conservatives since 1950.

However, the original Barnet constituency, which was newly created after World War II, was won for the first time by Labour in the 1945 landside secured by Clement Attlee.

After subsequent boundary changes, the constituency was renamed Chipping Barnet and had been Conservative held for 74 years.