A proposal by the Mayor of London to close Wimbledon Police Station has been slammed by the local MP as "ridiculous".

Sadiq Khan has launched a consultation on reducing front counters in police stations, which he says will save £10m. The savings are equivalent to the cost of 170 Police Constables, his office said.

The front desk in Queen's Road, Wimbledon is the only 24/7 counter in Merton, and is one of 41 stations across London that face the chop if plans are finalised. The Mayor's office said just eight per cent of crimes across the city are reported to the desks, down from 22 per cent in 2006.

Under the plans, the Wimbledon town centre building will be sold and services moved to Mitcham.

According to the Mayor's statistics, an average of 2.6 crimes were reported each day in May 2017 at the Wimbledon front desk, compared to 0.7 crimes reported over the same period at Mitcham station.

The consultation comes after last year's announcement by the Mayor of London's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) that the Metropolitan Police face £400m of budget cuts over the next four years.

The Mayor said: “The huge Government cuts to the Metropolitan Police Service have left us with no choice but to take drastic action to protect the frontline of policing.

“My top priority is keeping Londoners safe, and every pound saved by closing a front counter is a pound of savings that we do not have to find by reducing the frontline. By freeing up officers and moving them closer to their communities, they will be able to spend more time on the beat to tackle the issues that matter most to Londoners, such as knife crime, anti-social behaviour, hate crime and extremism, and domestic abuse.

“We will still be able to maintain a 24/7 front counter service in every borough and are improving the telephone and online services that Londoners value so highly.

“The Government urgently needs to properly fund the Met police so that they can do their job and keep Londoners safe.”

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond said: "This is a ridiculous proposal and I will be campaigning to save our Police Station. There is no justification for the attack on Wimbledon by the Mayor, which does not respect the needs of our community.

“Our Police Station is very well located near the town centre, which has a huge night-time economy and a large transport hub which needs policing. Wimbledon also hosts the Championships, bringing a huge number of visitors from all over the world who need to be kept safe.”

Tom Bolger, chairman of Wimbledon Labour Party said: "We believe policing should be close to the community and part of the community. Wimbledon is a big populous and it is surprising anyone would think we don't need a police station in the middle of town - so we are not supporting this proposal."

Former Merton borough commander and Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor, Lord Brian Paddick, has also criticised the plans.

Lord Paddick, who was in the role from 1997 to 1999, said: "The most valuable resources the police service has are its officers and forcing them to spend hours commuting between distant police stations and their beat at the beginning and end of their shift, when they take a meal break and whenever they make an arrest, will cost far more than what is saved by closing buildings.

"Operational police stations are beacons of reassurance in communities and closing them will make us all feel less safe.”