PM criticises Sadiq Khan's record on knife crime

Rishi Sunak criticised Sadiq Khan's record on crime

Rishi Sunak has claimed rising knife crime in London will “shine a spotlight on the reality of Labour in power” at this week’s local elections.

The prime minister said that under Sadiq Khan, London was the only place in the UK not to meet its police recruitment targets.

A new report has found violent crime increased after the closure of 70% of the capital’s police stations under Tory-led austerity policies.

Mr Khan said he had faced a “legacy of cuts” to police and youth provision and he was filling a “massive hole”.

During a visit to Tilbury, Essex, the prime minister told journalists local elections were always difficult for the government in power, but local records would be important.

He said: “Knife crime is rising in London, where it is falling outside of London. The one place in the country that has not met its police recruitment targets is London under Sadiq Khan. That’s what the reality of Labour in power means."

Knife crime increased in the capital by 20% in the year to December, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released last week.

There were 14,626 offences, the second highest total in the past eight years.

The incumbent mayor said crime had risen due to central government cuts

Campaigning in south London, Mr Khan pledged to continue funding for youth work and mentoring to tackle crime, with £8m to extend the “MyEnds” scheme from eight to 19 London boroughs.

Visiting a project in Croydon, he also promised to extend the Violence Reduction Unit’s work over the next four years.

“We have been trying to fill the massive hole left by government cuts by investing in young people, youth clubs, after-school clubs and mentoring,” he said.

“The ONS says that you are less likely to be a victim of crime in London than the rest of the country.”

A Labour spokesman added later that Mr Sunak was trying to distract from his own record.

New research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that the closure of 70% of London’s police stations due to austerity policies since 2010 led to an 11% increase in murders and assaults in nearby neighbourhoods.

Station closures lowered “police deterrence” and increased levels of violence, the report said.

It added: “The impact is driven not only by reduced police visibility around closed stations but, more importantly, by longer response times."

Conservative mayoral candidate for London Susan Hall welcomed the prime minister's intervention and pledged to halt further station closures and install two new “police bases” in every borough.

However, while canvassing in Wallington in south London, she declined to condemn the previous government and mayor Boris Johnson for initiating the police station closures.

She said: “I am looking to the future. We have got what we have got now. We can spend all our time looking at what happened in the past. I am absolutely focused on the future and making London safer.”

Susan Hall declined to comment on police cuts when Boris Johnson was mayor

The Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Blackie leafletted in Southwark and Greenwich, claiming a Labour mayor had failed on crime, and the Tory challenger could not say how she would fund improvements

“People are telling us the Conservatives won’t win in London and Sadiq Khan does not deserve to in,” he said.

'Making a noise'

Joined by her party’s co-leader Carla Denyer in Westminster, the Green candidate Zoe Garbett said much of her focus for the rest of the campaign would be on helping renters in the capital.

She said she would bring together a rent commission to gather evidence and make the case for rent controls.

“This is about making a noise about rent controls. People are crying out for a mayor fully on their side and putting a stronger case,” she said.

She claimed Mr Khan had blotted his environmental record by supporting the Silvertown road tunnel and had lost public support by “rushing” the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).

Ms Hall called on the incumbent Labour mayor to suspend Ulez on polling day, so that people with non-compliant cars could vote without incurring a £12.50 charge.

“Many Londoners, particularly disabled people, will be relying on their car to get to the polling station and face inadequate public transport alternatives in their area,” she said.