We turn a blind eye to many brothels, admits Yard chief

Commander Allan Gibson told MPs the force knew rapidly when sex was being sold and could devote "a lot more" of its resources to tackling the problem, but chose not to do so.

Mr Gibson, the officer in charge of the force's human trafficking unit, claimed this was because police felt Londoners were willing to tolerate a "certain level" of prostitution and a full-scale crackdown would be a "very difficult thing to sell to the public". The Met insisted it was determined to stamp out serious criminality connected to brothels, such as people-trafficking. But the admission that it allows many to operate produced an angry response from women's campaigners. The Met's stance was revealed in evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee.

Mr Gibson said the force only raided brothels where it believed serious offences were being committed. "We could commit a lot more of our resources to prostitution," he said. "Would that be the right thing to do? It is a matter of to what extent we target our resources at this problem. There is a sense in which there is a tolerance of a certain level of prostitution in society."

Mr Gibson added that prostitution would be "a difficult problem to eradicate" and conceded, when asked if the Met was turning a "blind eye", that it frequently did so. However, Mr Gibson said raids to combat people-trafficking, rape and other serious crimes were conducted regularly.

He added: "If we were to focus on prostitution alone, I think you would end up in a situation of saying there is a certain amount we should do but perhaps not exhaust all our resources doing it."

Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said many women would support a far more aggressive approach. "Who are the Met to decide that we want them to turn a blind eye? This a very misogynistic view which is out of date," she said.

London MEP Mary Honeyball, who campaigns for women's rights, described the Met's stance as "astounding". She said: "Giving brothels the green light so publicly is to say, 'Yes, we will tolerate violence and abuse against women so long as it's behind closed doors'."