London knife crime drives national rise - Cleverly

Home Secretary James Cleverly says the rise in knife crime "is driven by the situation in London"

The home secretary has blamed a sharp rise in knife crime in London for driving an increase in England and Wales.

In a letter sent to Mayor Sadiq Khan, James Cleverly claimed if the capital's recent record was excluded there would have been a small reduction across the country.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show recorded knife crime rose by 22% in London in the year to 23 September. Nationally, offences increased by 5%.

City Hall said it was a "desperate attack" to draw attention away from the government's underfunding of policing in London.

The home secretary wrote to the mayor hours after the pair met on Thursday to discuss crime and funding for the Metropolitan Police.

"This rise is driven by the situation in London," he said.

"For police-recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments, there was a 5% increase year-on-year nationally. The increase in London was 22%

"If London was taken out of these figures, the national trend would be a 1% reduction."

The mayor's spokesman said: "This is a desperate attack, following the home secretary's decision to give London proportionally less money than the rest of the country in the latest funding round."

In the letter, Mr Cleverly said the government had been making good progress across the country reducing hospital admissions from knife injuries among people under 25 by 25% since 2019.

"In London, however, the picture is very different," he said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan accused the Home Office of underfunding policing in the capital

While under-25 hospital admissions across England and Wales were down by 2%, there was an increase of 17% in the capital last year, the home secretary said.

Mr Cleverly pointed to a £110m investment in Violent Reduction Units (VRUs), including one in the capital, and said police had not been given new powers to seize knives held in private.

On Thursday, he announced further plans to clamp down on so-called zombie-style knives.

The home secretary said he wanted to "have sight" of how the mayor planned to get on top of knife crime.

A spokesman for the mayor said government cuts had been a disaster, denying the Met Police £1bn in real terms since 2010, adding that cuts to youth services nationally had had a devastating impact on the vital support communities can provide.

"The mayor continues to step in to fill the financial gaps left by the government, investing record amounts from City Hall to support the police," the spokesman said.

"He has increased funding for the police by 93% since 2016, while he continues to fund more opportunities for young Londoners."