London's Metropolitan police have said they will push forward with plans to allow armed officers to patrol the city with their weapons visible.

The new policy would be a stark change from the usual approach, which is to only arm officers for specific incidents where they believe the suspect is armed. Although some parts of central London have armed police, those officers are there for counterterrorism rather than patrolling residential areas.

So far, this is a policy that's restricted solely to London and has drawn huge criticism. Also worrying is that the Guardian is reporting that London Mayor Sadiq Khan was not consulted, causing tension between the Mayor and the Met since they are supposed to be answerable to him. Khan has so far not commented publicly.

Cressida Dick and the Met police have claimed the new powers will not mean regular armed patrols, but the proposal hasn't been fully worked out yet. Commander Kyle Gordon, the head of firearms for the Met, said there would be more consultations and that had a decision had not been made. However, it looks more than likely that the Met police's leadership would approve the plans.