London is ‘really safe’ city, says Met chief, as Sadiq Khan is confronted on surge in knife crime

London is a “really safe place to live and work” and safer than New York and Paris, according to the Metropolitan police commissioner.

Sir Mark Rowley’s remarks came shortly after London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan was challenged over the rise in knife crime during a photo opportunity with the commissioner in the West End.

The commissioner’s comments came in the wake of a recent spate of attacks: a father and son died in a quadruple stabbing in Bermondsey, a woman in her 60s was found dead in Romford and a 14-year-old boy was fighting for his life after a knife attack in Newham.

Sir Sadiq, during a walkabout with Sir Mark on Wednesday afternoon, was approached by Westminster councillor Laila Cunningham – who recently defected from the Tories to Reform – and asked about the nearly 60 per cent increase in knife crime in the capital in the last three years.

In a video clip posted on social media by Reform, she asked Sir Sadiq: “Knife crime going up 60 per cent, and you don’t care?”

Sir Sadiq did not stop to talk but replied: “Say hello to Nigel” – a reference to the Reform party leader Nigel Farage.

The mayor’s public appearances are generally not publicised in advance to ensure his personal safety. It is likely that the way Ms Cunningham was able to “gate-crash” the event will have caused concern among the mayor’s aides and his security detail.

Official figures published last week revealed that knife crime in London increased by nine per cent in the last year, with the capital now accounting for almost a third of all knife attacks in England and Wales.

But homicide was down nine per cent to 104 killings (from 114 the previous year), violence against the person was down six per cent and residential burglary was down 10 per cent.

Sir Mark, in an interview with PA Media as part of the mayor’s media event on Wednesday, to which The Standard was not invited, said: “London’s a really safe place to live and work.

“I mean, injury violence is lower in London than other cities.

“Murder in London is lower than every state in America. It’s lower than New York, it’s lower than Toronto, it’s lower than Berlin, it’s lower than Barcelona, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Paris.”

A total of 16,344 knife crimes were recorded by the Met police and City of London police in the 12 months to March, compared with 14,939 in the previous year.

It meant that 13 per cent of all serious crime in London included the use of a knife, including 57 murders and 71 attempted murders.

The figures mentioned by Ms Cunningham were contained in a separate report published on Wednesday by the Policy Exchange think tank.

This report said that knife crime had soared by 86 per cent in London in a decade, and that 20 streets around Oxford Circus and Regent Street accounted for one in every 15 knife attacks across the capital.

Although knife crime nationwide fell by one per cent last year, it rose by nine per cent in London, with 16,297 offences.