London mayor Sadiq Khan brands fatal stabbings 'human cost of austerity'
Sadiq Khan urges the two candidates vying to become the next PM to end the "nine year experiment to shrink the state".
Monday 15 July 2019 17:39, UK
Sadiq Khan has branded the rise in fatal stabbings a "human cost of austerity" as he urged both candidates vying to become the next prime minister to reverse police cuts since 2010.
The London mayor called for an end to the "nine year experiment to shrink the state" in a speech at a youth club near to the scene a person was stabbed less than 24 hours ago.
He claimed new data published by City Hall on Monday using figures from police and ambulance services showed a "direct link" between poverty and violent crime.
It comes after five former Metropolitan Police chiefs earlier this month warned cuts to officer numbers and the "virtual destruction" of neighbourhood policing risked emasculating the force.
Prime Minister Theresa May convened a knife crime summit in April to tackle the number of violent attacks, and admitted at the time "it is a challenge that as a society we need to rise up to and to act to deal with".
There have been at least 33 fatal stabbings in London this year, following a spike last year of 135.
Mr Khan said politicians had to be "honest" about the underlying causes, pointing out that violent crime started rising two years before he became mayor and has also risen across the whole of the UK.
He claimed £800m had been "stripped" from the Metropolitan Police Service's budget since 2010, wreaking a "huge amount of damage" on communities.
Vital investment in public services was also needed, the mayor added, because "we can't expect the police to bring down poverty and inequality".
Responding to criticism he was politicising the issue, Mr Khan said "the numbers don't lie" - the link between poverty and violent crime was "unarguable".
Mr Johnson, the former foreign secretary, has promised a "relentless focus" on tackling knife crime by spending £1.1bn a year funding 20,000 extra police officers if he becomes prime minister.
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His rival and successor in the Foreign Office, Jeremy Hunt, admitted "austerity did go too far on police numbers" and that "we need to do something" about that.
Mrs May, who is entering her last week as prime minister, has previously spoken out about the "appalling number of young lives that have been cut short or devastated by serious violent crime".
She launched a consultation on creating a "public duty" in different agencies to "work together" to help young people before they end up in a life of crime.
The PM also set up a serious violence team in the Cabinet Office to ensure different government departments collectively tackle the issue.