Sir Saqid Khan has come under fire for pledging half-a-million pounds worth of taxpayers' money to a slavery memorial that resembles a "rotting turnip".
The decision by the Mayor of London comes days after the Metropolitan Police Force warned of a major funding crisis.
The sculpture was announced last summer by Khan, officially called "The Wake" and standing seven metres tall.
It will be installed at the London Docklands in 2026.
Instagram/Sadiq
|The Wake will cost £500,000
Critics suggest the bronze spiral resembles a decaying vegetable rather than acting as a tribute.
Several have criticised the Mayor's spending during a time when "every spare penny should be spent on frontline policing".
The "rotting turnip", as described by former Tory MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, could have funded a dozen police officers in the capital.
Rees-Mogg referenced the "beautiful" Buxton Memorial in the Victoria Tower Gardens, which was commissioned to "commemorate the abolition of slavery in the British Empire", adding: "I wonder if the Mayor even knows it exists?"
Reform MP Richard Tice joined the critics, saying it was a "grotesque waste of London taxpayers' money when the city is becoming lawless" and that "every spare penny should be spent on frontline policing".
The news follows concerns on law and orders, following news that the Met Police has identified a £260million shortfall in the funding.
The Wake will form part of a "global network" of memorials, announced by Khan last week in Accra, Ghana.
Khan is currently on a trade mission, where he is looking to build "deeper cultural and economic ties" with Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
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Sadiq Khan has come under criticism with the move
A spokesman for the Mayor said: "No public funds will be used to construct or develop memorial sites abroad.
"The Mayor has committed £500,000 towards the commissioning of a Memorial to Victims of Transatlantic Slavery, specifically in London."
Partner locations of The Wake will be announced in Ghana and Sierra Leone.
The funding is part of Khan's "Diversity in the Public Realm" scheme, the same program reviewing London's statues and street names after the Black Lives Matter protests.