18 February 2023 , 18:20
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Knife crime is growing faster in Tory-controlled areas, figures reveal.
New analysis shows eight of the ten police forces with the highest increases in knife crime are in areas with Conservative Party Police and Crime Commissioners.
Tory bosses this week mounted an ad campaign claiming Labour were soft on crime.
But figures show knife crime in Surrey has increased more than tenfold over the last decade.
And it’s more than doubled in Norfolk, Cleveland, Essex, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire and Derbyshire - all of which have Tory crime chiefs.
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Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper this week pledged to recruit an extra 13,000 community police officers and PCSOs to tackle knife crime and drug dealing if elected.
In a speech at the Institute for Government think tank, the shadow home secretary said: "For 13 years, the Conservatives have deliberately run a hands-off Home Office, failing to take proper action on serious areas of rising crime, such as youth knife crime, drug dealing, fraud or town centre anti-social behaviour, and failing to introduce serious policing reform."
Rishi Sunak's Tories mounted an ad campaign on crime this week (PA)Knife crime has risen by 34% since the Tories came to power in 2010.
Last year there were around 45,000 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are determined to tackle knife crime and every knife taken off our streets is a potential life saved. Since 2019, 90,000 knives and offensive weapons have been removed from our streets through stop and search, surrender initiatives and other targeted police action."
They added: “Over 136,000 violent offences have been prevented and more than 215,000 vulnerable young people have been supported through our Violence Reduction Units and Hotspot policing."
“While murder rates in the UK are comparatively low, we are committed to preventing as many homicides as we can by confronting the main drivers. This includes our plan to transform society’s response to tackling domestic abuse, reducing both the demand for, and supply of, illicit drugs, and providing £130 million to prevent serious violence through our network of Violence Reduction Units.”