This is a slightly edited extract from an article originally published in City AM on 15th October.
I spent years prosecuting criminals. I’ve stood in courtrooms, listened to victims and seen the devastation crime leaves behind. I thought I understood the consequences of violence. Then it came to my own front door.
Two of my seven children have been threatened with knives in our own neighbourhood. I know exactly what a knife can do. The thought that one of my children could leave home one morning and never come back is something I share with so many other London parents.
When did we start accepting this as normal?
According to our Mayor, London is one of the safest cities in the world. Apparently, much of the fear surrounding crime is down to misinformation and social media algorithms. But my children didn’t encounter knives on Tiktok. They encountered them on the streets of London.
I find it extraordinary that a Mayor responsible for keeping Londoners safe spends so much time trying to convince them that they are safer than they feel.
Nearly a third of women in London fear for their physical safety when leaving home. The Metropolitan Police detects just seven per cent of reported crimes. Meanwhile, police stations have closed, officers have disappeared from our streets and the Met remains thousands of officers short.
Reform will put police officers back on our streets, restore effective stop and search, prioritise the prosecution of violent and sexual offenders, expand prison capacity and deport foreign criminals. We will restore consequences for breaking the law.
I want a London where parents can let their children go out without that sickening feeling in their stomach. Where women can walk home without fear. Where victims know that when a criminal is convicted, justice will actually be served. These are the most basic expectations of a civilised society. Yet millions of people no longer feel they can take them for granted.
Sadiq Khan can carry on telling Londoners how safe they are. I intend to make them safe. Because the measure of a Mayor is the safety of the people he was elected to protect. And on that measure, Sadiq Khan has failed London.
I spent years prosecuting criminals. I’ve stood in courtrooms, listened to victims and seen the devastation crime leaves behind. I thought I understood the consequences of violence. Then it came to my own front door.
Two of my seven children have been threatened with knives in our own neighbourhood. I know exactly what a knife can do. The thought that one of my children could leave home one morning and never come back is something I share with so many other London parents.
When did we start accepting this as normal?
According to our Mayor, London is one of the safest cities in the world. Apparently, much of the fear surrounding crime is down to misinformation and social media algorithms. But my children didn’t encounter knives on Tiktok. They encountered them on the streets of London.
I find it extraordinary that a Mayor responsible for keeping Londoners safe spends so much time trying to convince them that they are safer than they feel.
Nearly a third of women in London fear for their physical safety when leaving home. The Metropolitan Police detects just seven per cent of reported crimes. Meanwhile, police stations have closed, officers have disappeared from our streets and the Met remains thousands of officers short.
Reform will put police officers back on our streets, restore effective stop and search, prioritise the prosecution of violent and sexual offenders, expand prison capacity and deport foreign criminals. We will restore consequences for breaking the law.
I want a London where parents can let their children go out without that sickening feeling in their stomach. Where women can walk home without fear. Where victims know that when a criminal is convicted, justice will actually be served. These are the most basic expectations of a civilised society. Yet millions of people no longer feel they can take them for granted.
Sadiq Khan can carry on telling Londoners how safe they are. I intend to make them safe. Because the measure of a Mayor is the safety of the people he was elected to protect. And on that measure, Sadiq Khan has failed London.
