Sadiq Khan has been accused of “chasing headlines over chasing criminals” as a crime epidemic has left Londoners petrified.
Speaking ahead of a City Hall panel to discuss tackling London’s theft epidemic, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP told GB News that Khan was the “worst police and crime commissioner of any of the 43 police forces across England and Wales.”
He said: “He’s presided over the most ineffective police force in the country for catching criminals, despite the fact that the Met has the highest funding per capita of any police force in the country.”
“The last government gave the Met record funding and we got the Met to appoint record police numbers yet we don’t see the police on the street as they should be. That is on Sadiq Khan.”
Philp claimed: “Londoners are fearful because Khan has failed”
CITY HALL CONSERVATIVES
The Tory MP blamed the Mayor of London for the crime epidemic, claiming: “Londoners are fearful because Khan has failed.”
This comes as Khan recently suggested that the 50 per cent rise in shoplifting in the capital is due to “too many shops”.
Figures show 80,041 shoplifting offences were recorded in London in the year to September, up from 53,202 the year before.
Responding to questions on why London was experiencing a rise in these offences, the Mayor said: “Because we have a lot of shops here, and because the cost-of-living crisis is more acute in the capital city.”
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Knife crime also surged by 18 per cent between the periods of October 2022 to September 2023 and October 2023 to September 2024, according to ONS figures.
The Shadow Home Secretary insisted a “zero tolerance approach” must be taken to lower crime rates in London.
“What I want to see is a zero tolerance approach to crime in London. I want to see every lead followed up, which Khan is not ensuring happens at the moment,” he said.
“I want to see zero tolerance to knife crime which means using stop and search far more to make sure knives get taken off the street.
“There’s too much squeamishness based on completely misplaced sensitivities around alleged racism.”
When asked why he believes the Mayor has not taken this approach, Philp said: “Sadiq Khan doesn’t believe in being tough on crime”
CITY HALL CONSERVATIVES
“Khan has lost control of crime in London. We’ve seen an epidemic of phone thefts, shoplifting rife, knife crime on the increase. Londoners are fearful because Khan has failed.”
When asked why he believes the Mayor has not taken this approach, Philp said: “Sadiq Khan doesn’t believe in being tough on crime and doesn’t believe in zero tolerance policing.”
“He’s more interested in posturing and wasting money on renaming train lines. He’s more interested in those performative things than in doing the basics of catching criminals.
“Only four per cent of crimes in the Met Police get solved, which is appalling, and this is because Khan is more interested in posturing than catching criminals. “
Also speaking on the panel were Neil Garratt AM and Dr. Lawrence Newport to launch the Assembly Member’s landmark report on the capital’s crime crisis.
Neil Garratt told GB News that he hopes this report will put pressure on Sadiq Khan to be tougher on crime in the city, specifically focusing on arresting repeat offenders.
“The Mayor’s Police and Crime plan says nothing at all about bike theft and contains a small section on phone theft, mostly putting the onus on phone manufacturers to make phones less steal able.
“I decided somebody needed to present what a better alternative looks like.
“Instead of the Mayor saying ‘we’ll carry on doing what we’re doing because we’re great’ and ‘we’ll ask phone companies to do something, not sure what’, he should be instructing the Met to go after the most persistent offenders in the worst places. By doing that he can really make a difference.”
Dr Newport, who founded the campaign group Crush Crime, told GB News that one of the main things authorities should focus on to reduce crime rates is early intervention.
Other recommendations state that the Mayor of London should publish a Theft Reduction Action Plan
PA
“If first time offenders are taken to trial and get feedback from the system, it serves as a deterrent.
“If it’s a repeat offense – the more crimes you’ve committed the longer you should be in prison for. 50 per cent of all crime is committed by 10 per cent of offenders.
“These are people with 15 or more offenses. We’re not talking about people who have done something wrong, we’re talking about systemic criminal behaviour, organised crime. “
“Right now, it pays to do crime. Although the upfront cost of this type of intervention may be more, the longer term gains are dramatic.”
The report makes several key recommendations, including £7million ringfenced funding for the creation of a Theft Reduction Unit to work solely on organised theft and a targeted, proactive operation launched by the Met to tackle high-volume crime, with Sadiq Khan’s support, in the areas where these thefts are at their highest, involving visible policing and facial recognition technology.
Other recommendations state that the Mayor of London should publish a Theft Reduction Action Plan, setting out the steps he will take, and which the public can mark his actions and results against, as well as stopping the “scapegoating” of phone manufacturers and shop owners for the increase in crime and of putting pressure on them to solve it.
Lastly, it calls on the Government to introduce stronger legislation and deterrents for organised crime gangs to crack down on the prevalence of these thefts.
A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor has always been clear that one death is one too many but the violent crime rate is lower in London than in the rest of England and Wales.
“The number of homicides in the capital in 2024 was the lowest since 2014 and the number of teenage homicides the lowest since 2012. This has happened despite huge cuts from the previous government to policing and youth services.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said tackling knife crime is a top priority for the force. “We are seeing positive progress, with falls in the number of victims of violence, including young people injured by knives, and in the overall number of homicides by the end of 2024 compared to previous years.”
“Falls in the number of arrests for knife crimes are linked to fewer officers feeling confident about using stop and search tactics as they fear complaints, yet we know that stop and search can prevent crimes from happening. In the last year alone, 28 per cent led to a positive outcome with knives and other weapons recovered – three per cent up on the previous year.”
The spokesman added that they recognise there is more work to be done to empower officers to use stop and search effectively.
