SADIQ Khan's City Hall team rated Brexit as a bigger risk to London than coronavirus – just as the country was slipping into a pandemic.

Internal risk assessments for the Greater London Authority showed that Britain leaving the EU was rated as a bigger issue than the health crisis gripping the nation back in March.

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The corporate risk register – which gives a series of ratings based on the possible impact and the likelihood to happen – had Brexit, housing supply and the London Plan as its top risks, rated as a 12.

However, coronavirus was rated as a 9.

The plans, which were rubber stamped on March 10, came into force just eight days before schools closed, and a fortnight before the country went into a full lockdown.

Mr Khan was telling Londoners at the time: “I want to reassure Londoners and visitors the advice from experts is to continue with our daily lives as normal, including using public transport.”

The Mayor's Office say the decisions on the most recent audit – which will remain in place until October – were made back in February, and the risk register was commissioned back in mid-January when the virus was relatively unknown in the UK.

Officials stressed that the virus crisis was the Mayor's number one focus now.

But Susan Hall, Leader of the GLA Conservatives, blasted him for failing to provide proper leadership.

She raged: "Sadiq Khan's administration at City Hall clearly hasn't understood the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's shocking that thirteen days before the country went into lockdown, City Hall thought that Brexit was a bigger risk to London than coronavirus.

"Worse still, they haven't even updated this vital risk assessment to recognise the huge threat this cruel virus still poses to our city.

"The Mayor needs to get his priorities right, end his Brexit obsession, and put Londoners' safety above all else." 

The Corporate Risk Register is produced twice yearly – in March and October – and looks at the risks for the Greater London Authority and its services.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor has been clear in both his words and his actions over the last four months that the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest health and economic challenge London has faced since the Second World War. 

"He has been working tirelessly to lead London’s response to the pandemic, stop the spread of the virus and now to start rebuilding the capital’s economy.

“The potential impact of the Coronavirus on London monitored and assessed from January when an operational group was established by Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience Fiona Twycross.

"The Mayor also assembled his Advisory Group of senior officials and health specialists – including the Deputy Chief Medical Officer – on March 2 to ensure the GLA was fully prepared for the impact of Coronavirus and that the right advice and guidance was available for Londoners.

“The Corporate Risk Register produced for the March Audit Panel clearly lists Coronavirus as a substantial threat to the services and operations of the GLA which demonstrated just how seriously City Hall was taking the crisis.

"This was despite only 13 people in the UK testing positive for the virus when it was submitted on 23 February.”

Last week the Mayor said that Transport for London needed another cash injection – just months after its last bailout.

He said fewer people taking trains and tubes during the pandemic had had a huge impact on TfL's already struggling finances.

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