Dozens of police officers in Kent have been “unfairly poached” by the Met, leading the county's crime commissioner to demand a meeting with the Mayor of London over the issue.

A total of 46 "experienced" officers have moved across the border over the last year, it was revealed yesterday.

Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott said attempts to meet government demands for officers were “suffering” as a result.

He told the Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel at County Hall, Maidstone: “It’s a shame for the residents of Kent because the way the Met Police has gone around this is unfair.

"It goes against all the principles that the government's uplift programme has been about, which is working together.

“We are suffering because the Met Police is not meeting its own targets.”

Since 2019, the government has put pressure on the police to hire 20,000 new officers across England and Wales by March 2023. Local forces have six months left to meet their quota.

Earlier today, London's Met Police told the Local Democracy Reporting service that it has "worked hard" to recruit the vast majority of its 9,400 new officers from within the capital since 2020.

Now, the force, which pays higher wages, is casting its net further.

Mr Scott says it means Kent has to "work even harder" to recruit new officers and he has written to London Mayor Sadiq Khan to call for a special meeting to resolve the officer quota issues.

He said: “The Met are taking away our officers, with skills we have already paid to train and who have over two years of experience."

PCs earn between £25,812 and £26,582 per year in Kent, plus a £3,000 south east allowance.

In London, the Met allocates more than £33,500 as a starting salary for new officers, increasing to over £37,000 on completing probation successfully.

It means London wages for new officers are 25% higher than the highest earnings available to recruits in the county.

Canterbury City councillor Ashley Clark (Con), a former Kent Police officer, has opposed the “poaching” of frontline staff from the Met.

He said: “Kent has advantages in terms of our countryside, our coastline and close proximity to France, that are totally lacking in an overcrowded and over crimed metropolis.

“Quality of life is more important to the majority of people than the money you are getting in your pocket.”

Mr Scott says the actions of his neighbouring force pose the “biggest risk” to Kent not hitting government targets over a national police uplift programme.

The aim is to raise the total number of Kent police officers to 4,145 by March 2023 - the highest number in the county's history.