May under fire from police boss over knife crime rise

THERESA MAY has ordered an urgent set of ministerial meetings to tackle the surge in knife crime, amid controversy over her claim that there was no direct link with cuts in police numbers.

Britain’s most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, clashed with the Prime Minister on the issue, insisting there is “obviously” a connection between reductions in officer numbers and street violence.

The number of police officers in England and Wales has dropped by more than 20,000 since 2010, and levels of violent crime have risen in recent years.

Speaking in the wake of a slew of fatal knife attacks on teenagers in the capital and elsewhere, Ms Dick said: “If you went back in history, you would see examples of when police officer numbers have gone down and crime has not necessarily risen at the same rate and in the same way.

“But I think that what we all agree on is that, in the last few years, police officer numbers have gone down a lot, there’s been a lot of other cuts in public services, there has been more demand for policing and therefore there must be something, and I have consistently said that.

“I agree that there is some link between violent crime on the streets obviously and police numbers, of course there is and everybody would see that.”

On Monday, Mrs May sparked fury when she said there “was no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers”.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, said the Prime Minister was “delusional”, while former Met Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe called for 20,000 officers to be recruited and demanded that ministers “get a grip on the crisis”.

Chuka Umunna, of The Independent Group, also hit back, saying on Twitter: “It is absurd for the Prime Minister to suggest that having more police will not help reduce the violence on the streets. She insults people’s intelligence with this nonsense.”

At a Cabinet meeting on the issue of knife crime on Tuesday, Mrs May said that the killings of Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki last week were “absolutely appalling” and told ministers her thoughts and sympathies were with the teenagers’ families.

Mrs May’s official spokesman said that the Prime Minister had told Cabinet that while the Government was already taking action, their deaths were “a stark reminder that there is more to do to tackle violence on our streets”.

Two teenagers have been charged following the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Yousef Makki in Hale Barns on Saturday and will appear in court today.