Thousands of Christmas shoppers will have their faces scanned by permanent Met facial recognition cameras on Oxford Street from December

Around half a million people a day pass along Oxford Street, and each face could be checked against a police watchlist of wanted suspects. The cameras are likely to go up in December, possibly mounted on lampposts. The Metropolitan Police also plans static cameras across the West End and Soho. The Home Office has still not published its response to a consultation that closed in February.

Liberty's Akiko Hart says shoppers will be scanned 'without being given a choice'.

According to the Met, a six-month Croydon pilot resulted in 173 arrests — roughly one every 35 minutes.

A British Transport Police station trial produced one arrest, and that was a false alarm.