{"id":691428,"date":"2026-01-12T16:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/691428\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T16:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:36:14","slug":"londons-homicide-rate-is-at-a-record-low-as-mayor-says-it-disproves-trumps-dystopian-claims-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/691428\/","title":{"rendered":"London\u2019s homicide rate is at a record low as mayor says it disproves Trump&#8217;s &#8216;dystopian&#8217; claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p><strong class=\"sc-1uza6dc-1 cglitp\">Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n<p> London\u2019s murder rate fell in 2025 to its lowest level in decades, officials said Monday. Mayor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/sadiq-khan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sadiq Khan<\/a> said the figures disprove claims spread by U.S. President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> and others on the political right that crime is out of control in Britain\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/police\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Police<\/a> recorded 97 homicides in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/london\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">London<\/a> in 2025, down from 109 in 2024 and the fewest since 2014. The Metropolitan Police force says the rate by population is the lowest since comparable records began in 1997, at 1.1 homicides for every 100,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>That compares to 1.6 per 100,000 in Paris, 2.8 in New York and 3.2 in Berlin, the force said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some politicians and commentators who\u2019ve been spamming social media with an endless stream of distortions and untruths, painting an image of a dystopian London,\u201d Khan told The Associated Press. \u201cAnd nothing could be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump, who has been directing insults at Khan for a decade, said in September that crime in the city is \u201cthrough the roof.\u201d He has called Khan a \u201cstone-cold loser,\u201d a \u201cnasty person\u201d and \u2013 in front of the U.N. General Assembly in September \u2013 a \u201cterrible, terrible mayor.\u201d Trump has also claimed without foundation that Khan wants to bring Sharia, or Islamic law, to London.<\/p>\n<p>City officials say a combination of targeted policing aimed at organized crime and a violence reduction unit that aims to stop young people getting involved with gangs have helped reduce violent crime.<\/p>\n<p>A falling murder rate is only part of the story. Many Londoners have firsthand experience of phone-snatching, and shoplifting has surged, according to the Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\n<p>The Crime Survey for England and Wales, which asks people about their experience of crime rather than relying on police figures, found overall crime rose by 7% in the year to March 2025 from the previous 12 months, though it remains significantly lower than in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Arguments that London is a crime-plagued dystopia under Labour Party mayor Khan have mushroomed on social media sites including the Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, and are echoed by opposition politicians, often tied to anti-immigrant views.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are certain politicians, certain commentators who have been using London as a punchbag\u201d to fit their own political agenda, Khan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLondon is, in my view, the best city in the world. We are liberal, we are progressive, we are diverse. And we are incredibly successful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Khan said London is the \u201cnumber one city in the world for tourism, the sporting capital of the world, the cultural capital of the world, more international students than in any city in the world, a record amount of foreign direct investment. Last year, more Americans came to London to study or to work or to invest since records began. So we\u2019re the antithesis to everything these nativists believe in. And if you\u2019re President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, or if you\u2019re an imitator in Europe or indeed in the UK, I can see why this is a problem to you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-691428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115883106789301905","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}