Revealed: Almost half of Londoners say the Mayor's record on knife crime is poor according to research from London Real

New research shows almost half of Londoners say Mayor’s record on knife crime is poor or worse, while rival Brian Rose calls for solutions to the violence.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, April 24, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- London’s current Mayor has been criticised for “abandoning Londoners to knife crime” in the wake of new research ahead of the May 2nd election.

Almost half of Londoners rate the Mayor’s attempts to deal with knife crime as poor or worse, with a mere 9% saying he has done very well.

Tellingly, a majority of voters in more than half of all London boroughs say he has performed poorly or very poorly.

Metropolitan Police-recorded knife crime rose by a fifth in the last year, and London’s knife crime rates are well above the English average: roughly 10.1 people for every 100,000 residents are admitted to hospital having been assaulted with a knife or sharp object in London, compared with 6.2 admissions per 100,000 across England as a whole.

The research was carried out for the London Real Party, whose founder Brian Rose is the leading independent candidate in the race to become the capital’s next Mayor.

He said: “The figures speak for themselves. Knife crime is a blight on our capital and, whatever spin the Mayor puts on it, the cold hard facts are that lives are being damaged, destroyed and lost in greater numbers.

“He cannot escape from the evidence that he has let Londoners down dreadfully – this is happening on his watch, in his city, to his people.”

In some parts of the capital, almost three-quarters of voters view the Mayor’s knife crime record as poor or very poor.

When the findings are mapped out, it is clear that, apart from the City of London and a handful of North London boroughs, every other part of London has at least 40% of voters labelling Khan’s knife-crime record as poor or very poor. The average across the whole city is a damning 48%.

Asked how Khan has dealt with crime more broadly, the responses are not much more positive.

When pressed to rate the Mayor’s record on dealing with crimes excluding knife crime, 43 per cent of voters say he has done badly and, again, only 9% consider his record to be very good.

Rose said: “Voters know all too well that the Mayor has let them down, and badly, on what is literally a life-or-death issue.

“He has closed police stations across the city, failed to address deep-rooted concerns around policing and prefers to pose for pictures with officers rather than helping them address this dreadful issue.”

As things stand, following years of closures, Londoners will be left with just one police station per borough.

Rose is promising to reverse this policy, opening more police stations, putting 10,000 more officers on the streets and working closely with authorities and the third sector to address the root causes of knife crime in the capital.

He said: “It is not enough to deal with knife crime when it happens – we must take action to stop young people being drawn into serious crime in the first place.

“I have been inspired by people such as the late Jamal Edwards MBE, whose work with youth centres and the Prince’s Trust gave so many young people a helping hand up life’s ladder.

“As Mayor, I will work with businesses and grass-roots organisations to develop more ways of cutting the risks our young people face, and amplifying their input into London. If you want a city to exude youthful confidence, then empower the youth.”

The polling for London Real was carried out by Mortar Ltd, who interviewed more than 2,000 adults across the capital on April 12th-16th.

Howard Bowden
London Real
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