Sir Sadiq Khan has revealed the scale of crushing at the Notting Hill carnival left him “frightened” and brought to mind the Hillsborough football disaster, in which 97 people died.
The dramatic intervention came after the London mayor was urged to rescue the carnival - the world’s second biggest street festival - after a warning that it could be cancelled without “urgent funding”.
Speaking at City Hall on Thursday, Sir Sadiq said there were “huge concerns” about public safety at the event, which is held annually over the August Bank Holiday weekend in the streets of west London.
He said he shared fears expressed by the Metropolitan police about the risk of a mass casualty event.
The mayor was warned by Susan Hall, leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly, that the carnival was a “disaster waiting to happen”.
“I have seen images of some of the crowds at some parts of the day. Watching them made me frightened,” Sir Sadiq said.
“One of the advantages we have is expertise based upon the tragedy of what happened at Hillsborough.
“God forbid [that] we now know there is a concern around crushing and actions weren’t taken to do whatever we could to minimise the possibility of that happening.”
Ninety-seven football fans died as a result of a crush at the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield in 1989.
Sir Sadiq is a life-long Liverpool fan. The anniversary of the tragedy is marked each year by the club’s supporters.
On Wednesday night, BBC London revealed that carnival chair Ian Comfort had written to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to request extra funding after a review of the 2024 festival identified “critical public safety concerns.”
Pressed whether the Government or Sir Sadiq should step in, energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told LBC Radio: “This will be a decision for the Mayor of London.”
The Peckham MP added: “It’s an iconic part of our culture and our tradition in London.
“The thing that is so amazing about it is that it brings different parts of our communities together in this amazing, colourful celebration of everything that is the beauty of multi-cultural London and the huge diversity that we have in our community.
“On a personal level as someone who absolutely loves the carnival, and wants my children to enjoy the carnival in the way that I did, I really hope that we can find a way through in order to ensure it keeps going for years to come.”
“Critical public safety concerns”. Indeed!
— Jonathan Hinder MP (@Jonathan_Hinder) June 18, 2025
Hyde Park.
Ticket only.
No stabbings.
Done. pic.twitter.com/S4U332VLJI
But answering questions from Ms Hall at Mayor’s Question Time on Thursday morning, Sir Sadiq said the Government needed to provide the money to minimise the safety risks at this year’s carnival.
He said: “I support the carnival trust in asking the Government for additional funding. My team is speaking to the Government as I speak.
“I have got to be quite frank, though: City Hall and the two councils [Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea] have given the maximum we can financially. We would need the Government to step in.”
Ms Hall said she agreed with the mayor that the carnival had become a victim of its own success.
She asked: “Should the Government fund an event at which two people died at last year?
“You are quite right: it is a victim of its own success. We just can’t cope with more people in those small streets.
“It is a disaster waiting to happen. It’s very unpalatable for it to be stopped, but, having said that, it is so dangerous there now.
“Quite frankly, any police officer you speak to doesn’t want to go.”
Sir Sadiq said City Hall had provided the carnival with about £1m a year throughout his mayoralty to help pay for security.
“The carnival has been going since 1966, organised by the community. It’s the second biggest street festival in the world,” he said.
“The police have raised some concerns, which I share, about the carnival being the victim of its own success, and there being such numbers at the carnival that there are concerns around surging and, forgive my language, crushing, in terms of people at certain pinch-points.
“On the advice of the police, the carnival trust have asked an independent team to go and do a review of safety at the carnival. They have prepared a report.
“That leads to additional expenditure being required to address some of the issues raised by the review.
“There is a funding gap, so the carnival trust have written to the Government to ask for their financial support.”
Jonathan Hinder, a former police inspector and now Labour MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, suggested the carnival should be moved, posting on X: “Hyde Park. Ticket only. No stabbings.”
But Ms Fahnbulleh said: “It would be a shame if it was ticketed and you had to pay for it.
“The beauty is it’s accessible to everyone.”
Two people were killed at the event last year, which usually attracts over two million people over the Bank Holiday weekend.
There were eight stabbings in total, with 104 people arrested on the Sunday and 230 arrests made on the Monday.
Speaking last September, Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: “While we acknowledge the crime often gets the headlines, the thing that worries me most is the crowd density and the potential for a mass casualty event."
It comes after an independent safety review was commissioned by the carnival’s organisers.
It was paid for by the Greater London Authority (GLA), Kensington and Chelsea council and Westminster council at a cost of £100,000.
The review found “critical public safety concerns” which the leaked letter said would require more funding to address.
The full details of the review have not yet been released.
However, Mr Comfort also referenced a report by the London Assembly which raised concerns about the Met’s ability to police large public events.
He said that a lack of “immediate” funding “risks compromising public safety and jeopardising the future of the carnival.”
If the funding went ahead, it would be the first time it came directly from the government.
It is not yet clear what level of funding the organisers are referring to.
Notting Hill Carnival has been contacted by The Standard for comment.
A Government spokesperson said: "We will respond to the letter in due course."
