Minister Criticises Sadiq Khan as Knife Crime Rises and Stop-and-Search Falls

Police in London in an undated file photo. The Home Office is permanently easing restrictions on the use of police stop-and-search tactics. Victoria Jones/PA

Policing minister Chris Philp has accused Mayor of London Sadiq Khan of bowing to “politically correct” pressure to reduce the police’s stop-and-search powers and allowing knife crime to rise in the capital.

Mr. Khan faces off against the Conservative Susan Hall in Thursday’s mayoral election and Mr. Philp has chosen this moment to criticise the incumbent’s record on tackling violent crime.

Mr. Philp told The Times of London: “Sadiq Khan is totally failing Londoners by prioritising politically correct appeasement over Londoners’ safety. Stop and search takes knives off the streets and saves lives, yet under Khan’s negligent approach it has gone down and at the same time knife crime in London has gone up.”

Knife crime has risen since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 13,503 incidents recorded in London between July 2022 and June 2023, a 21 percent increase on the previous year.

The Metropolitan Police’s use of stop-and-search powers has fallen by 44 percent over the past two years.

In the past Mr. Khan has said he would “do all in my power to further cut its use” after critics said it was disproportionately used against young black men.

But Mr. Philp said, “Figures show that the percentage of stop-and-searches where drugs or knives are found is roughly the same for all ethnicities, showing the police use the tactic fairly.”

Philp Writes to Khan About ‘Scourge of Violence’

In a letter to Mr. Khan, Mr. Philp wrote, “I am eager to understand what measures you are taking to reverse the decline in the use of stop-and-search … and crack down on the scourge of violence devastating communities.”

Mr. Khan hit back by promising, if he is reelected on Thursday, that he will invest an extra £7.8 million into tackling the “complex causes of crime.”

He said the money would be used to expand his Violence Reduction Unit’s community-led programme, MyEnds, which delivers youth work and mentoring in areas which have the highest rates of gang violence and knife crime.

Currently MyEnds delivers targeted youth work in eight neighbourhoods in Brent, Croydon, Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Southwark, Newham, and Tower Hamlets, which “are affected by high and sustained levels of violence.”

Camden—a borough that has seen a violent gang war between the rival 71st and 51st gangs—is not included in MyEnds.

Forensics officers work at the scene of a shooting that reportedly happened during a funeral at St. Aloysius Church, in London, on Jan. 14, 2023. Henry Nicholls/Reuters

But Mr. Khan, who has been in charge of London since 2016, said he planned on extending it to 30 neighbourhoods or estates by the end of his term in 2028.

MyEnds aims to divert young people away from gangs as they move from primary to secondary school.

Opinion polls suggest Mr. Khan is on course to win a historic third term but his team is insisting the election could be close and is portraying it as a choice between “building a safer London for everyone” or a “divisive, hard-right Tory opponent” who has backed cutting police numbers.

‘Making Our City Safer Is My Number One Priority’

The mayor said: “Tackling violence and making our city safer is my number one priority. As mayor, I have been both tough on violence and tough on the complex causes of violence.”

“This major new investment will play a pivotal role in providing targeted support to communities across the capital—whether youth work, mentoring, or a variety of after-school activities,” he added.

But Ms. Hall said Mr. Khan had “nothing to offer but excuses” and claimed crime in London “has soared out of control” under his watch.

She said: “I am listening to Londoners and as mayor, I will make our city safer. I will recruit 1,500 police officers, put two new bases in every borough, and bring back borough-based policing so the police local to you, supported by a £200 million investment in policing.”

Bruce Houlder, founder of Fighting Knife Crime London, said there were 48,716 offences involving a bladed article in the year up to Jan. 24 in England and Wales, 28.9 percent of which occurred in London.

Last year The Epoch Times published research that suggested one in four homicides in London were linked to drill music and various feuds between different drill rappers and their gangs.

Mr. Khan has not commented in public on drill music and has not followed the example of New York Mayor Eric Adams, who hosted a summit in 2022 with drill rappers in a bid to persuade them to tone down their violent lyrics.

PA Media contributed to this report.