New Year's Eve: Met deploys 3,000 police officers on London streets ahead of celebrations

The Metropolitan Police will deploy around 3,000 officers onto the streets of London as tourists and revellers usher in the New Year. The police force is urging people to plan their journey for the night as road closures will start to come into force from 14:00 GMT on 31 December in the capital.

The Met also stressed they were working closely with the Mayor's office, British Transport Police (BTP), Westminster City Council and other agencies to ensure the Mayor's New Year fireworks run smoothly.

"New Year's Eve is a major celebration in the diary and the Met has been working with colleagues to ensure celebrations run smoothly and the event is safe and enjoyable for everyone who attends," said Superintendent Jo Edwards, the Met's spokesperson.

"Our policing plan remains under constant review and the public can expect to see additional police officers in central London, which includes an increased number of firearms officers. Our plans are purely precautionary and not as a result of any specific intelligence.

"I would ask anyone who is travelling into London for the ticketed New Year's Eve event to arrive in plenty of time. We will be supporting stewards with additional entry searches to the ticketed event which is likely to mean it will take longer to get into the viewing areas."

The comments come as Brussels Mayor, Yvan Mayeur, cancelled Belgium capital's fireworks display amid terror attack threats. "We are forced to cancel considering the risk analysis done by the Crisis Center," he told the RTBF network.

Paris, which was the scene of deadly Islamic State (Isis) linked attacks in November, will have 11,000 police patrolling the streets of the French capital, up from 9,000 in 2014.