THE Metropolitan Police Service announced a stay of execution yesterday for police community support officers (PCSOs).

All 1,000 officers were in line for the chop as the service strives to get on top of the £800 million cuts it is required to make by 2019.

But it has agreed to postpone the decision until at least December.

Labour London Assembly policing spokeswoman Joanne McCartney welcomed the postponement.

She said that fierce political and public opposition to the plans forced the Met to abandon plans to take a decision on PCSOs’ future this week.

“Despite this stay of execution for PCSOs, it’s clear the future of local policing in the capital remains at grave risk,” she warned.

“We cannot be complacent and will be spending the next two months making the case for neighbourhood policing in the capital.

“There is no doubt that government cuts are putting great strain on the police force. It’s time the Home Secretary understood that the decimation of neighbourhood policing is not a price the London public are willing to pay.”

The delay came a week after Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe warned that the scale of police funding cuts was “worrying” for the capital and that “we’ve got options on how to make savings but with that scale of savings none of them are attractive.”

By 2016 the Met budget will have been cut by almost £600m since 2010.