Sadiq Khan saw 4,277 acts of knife violence take place on the streets of London between 2018 and 2019, according to latest data from the Metropolitan Police. The increase of violent crime in the Capital sparked criticism toward the Mayor of London for the lack of a suitable response to address the issue. Greater London Assembly member Susan Hall blasted Mr Khan for allegedly ignoring proposals Tory members of the assembly put forward to help bring down crime toward Londoners and members of the Met Police.

Asked whether the mayoral office had responded to recommendations Ms Hall had put forward, she told Express.co.uk: “They haven’t responded at all. I think there were seven or eight recommendations and I haven’t heard back since then.

“But everything works very, very slowly in City Hall and anything you suggest, the Mayor seems to want to reject in any event. It’s very unhelpful.”

Ms Hall put forward plans to review the “policy of single crewing”, the deployment of police officers alone, and introduce additional counselling services to help police officers address mental health issues. 

The GLA member also revealed Tory members of the assembly had put forward plans to increase police presence of the streets of London to 400,000 to help tackle the violent crime rate increase.

Ms Hall said: “It needs to be dealt with at every level because different people commit different crimes for different reasons.

“There needs to be earlier interaction but there also needs to be more tougher sentences, there need to be tougher repercussions.

“Khan’s attitude toward these people who commit crimes is not firm enough.”

The latest data from Met Police has shown an increase in conviction rates for possessing or making threats with knives in London, with cautions also increasing.

In February, Mayor Khan announced the launch of a new Violent Crime Taskforce of 300 policemen to focus their activities in areas around London most at risk of becoming the background of criminal offences. 

When launching the task force, Mr Khan said: “The most violent crimes, including knife crime, are rising across England & Wales. This is clearly a national problem that requires national solutions.

“The Government must urgently increase funding for the police as well as restoring funding for the services that provide alternative paths away from crime, such as youth services, education, probation and mental health services.”

The Mayor has repeatedly claimed cuts to police funding under the Conservative Governments of David Cameron and Theresa May contributed to the increase of violent crime in London.

As part of his campaign to address growing crime rates in the Capital, Mr Khan said he had increased the budget for the Met “as much as I am allowed.”

He said: “In just London alone, over the last eight years, our Met police service has lost more than £800 million from central government as a consequence of cuts.

“That’s led to us having more than 3,000 fewer police officers, thousands of fewer community support officers, and thousands of fewer police staff.

“On top of that, dozens of youth centres closing down, hundreds of youth workers losing their jobs, thousands of young Londoners who don’t have a youth centre to go to.”

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