Britain's Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner (AC) John Yates resigned on Monday under mounting pressure over his handling of the phone-hacking scandal.

"Assistant Commissioner John Yates has this afternoon indicated his intention to resign to the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority," Scotland Yard said in a statement.

"This has been accepted. AC Yates will make a statement later this afternoon," the statement added.

Yates has been widely criticized for deciding not to reopen an investigation on the phone hacking of the News of the World in 2009.

His resignation came after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson stepped down on Sunday over the same scandal that has stirred both the British political and medium arenas.

The spreading scandal has also prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to call on Monday for an emergency session of parliament.