Khan’s shame: 1,000 murders while he has been mayor of London
SADIQ Khan was last night accused of failing Londoners on crime levels after it emerged that more than 1,000 people have been killed since he became mayor.
Police estimates show 1,008 homicides were recorded in the 2,773 days since Mr Khan was first elected – leaving around 130 families ripped apart every year of his tenure.
This includes 1,003 before 2023 ended – including Harry Pitman on December 31 – and another five in the first ten days of January 2024. It comes as the mayor is refusing to supply the Met Police with £70million in funds for its crucial ‘New Met For London’ reforms, yet offered a bumper £30million pay deal to unions to avert crippling Tube strikes.
The data sparked accusations that Mr Khan had only made the situation worse while in the job – although his office claimed that homicide levels had fallen to their lowest since 2014.
Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall said: ‘I am deeply saddened to hear that over 1,000 people have been killed in London since Sadiq Khan took charge eight years ago.
‘Sadiq Khan has simply not done enough, and we cannot afford another four years under his watch.’
Louie French, the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup in outer London, told the Mail: ‘Alongside the record number of strikes and delays, Ulez expansions and the embarrassing government bailout of TfL, Sadiq Khan’s biggest failure is arguably his record on crime.
‘Growing up in the London suburbs was relatively safe, but now parents worry about sending their kids to school due to the surge in knife crime. London needs a new mayor who is focused on policing and less so on their pronouns and PR.’
Earlier this month the grieving step-mother of murder victim Jodie Chesney, who lost her life after being stabbed in 2019, accused Mr Khan of being ‘more interested in raising revenue through Ulez than in doing the right thing for Londoners’.
She added: ‘His legacy is normalising knife crime, as well as draining every penny from the public.’
But a spokesman for Mr Khan said: ‘Nothing is more important to the mayor than keeping Londoners safe. As both an MP and mayor, he has met regularly with many bereaved families and seen the profound impact of violent crime.
‘There have been massive government cuts to policing and youth services over the last decade, and a nationwide increase in police recorded violent crime.
‘But thanks to record investment in the police from City Hall and in early intervention through his Violence Reduction Unit, the number of homicides in London last year fell to its lowest since 2014. Homicides, gun crime and the number of young people injured with knives have all fallen in London since 2016.’
Earlier this week City Hall Conservatives accused Mr Khan of refusing to provide £70million to fund additional Met Police reforms – despite finding £30million for rail workers.
In what former mayor Boris Johnson branded an ‘epic show of apathy, and failure to deal with the unions’, Mr Khan offered a ‘ significantly improved’ pay deal to avoid the week-long Tube strike.
Mr Khan has consistently accused the Government of failing to provide funding for frontline policing in the capital. But Tory Keith Prince said: ‘The Met’s reforms – the New Met for London Plan – is a two-year programme to deliver community policing and stamp out racism, misogyny and homophobia.
‘With the Met now halfway through this essential reform programme, Sadiq Khan is refusing to give the Met the funding it needs to finish the job. In case he hasn’t noticed, crime in London is out of control and trust in the Met is at a record low. These reforms are essential. They’re not a “nice to have”.’
‘He has simply not done enough’