The Metropolitan Police will go to the High Court to fight a ruling to reveal informant payments.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham ordered Scotland Yard to hand over the details by next Tuesday, or it could face punishment for contempt of court.

The row stems from a Freedom of Information request from a Croydon resident who wanted to know how much taxpayers money was spent on 'snitches'.

Around £2million a year is spent on informants and the Met says revealing 'the going rate' could put people in danger and reveal policing tactics.

For example if a particularly big payout was spotted by a criminal, they could link them to high-profile crimes and assess how the police has been operating.

Graham rejected this saying the public interest should be served by greater transparency.

In his decision notice, Mr Graham said there is little chance of an informant being identified because the request covered 12-month periods in a borough of 300,000 residents.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said:

"The Met will be appealing against the Information Commissioner's decision."


Information 'blackout'

The Association of Chief Police Officers has been helping Constabularies keep many aspects of their work from the public including how much money is spent protecting the Royal family and details of cases long-solved.