UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn blames government cuts for crime rise in UK

Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Coventry University to give a speech on Brexit in Coventry on February 26, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says spending cuts by Prime Minister Theresa May and her Tory government are to blame for the recent rise in crime in the capital London and other part of Britain.

"You simply cannot maintain community cohesion when you slash funding to the police service," the opposition leader will say Monday, as he launches Labour's election campaign in London.

The City has recorded over 50 murders as a result of violent attacks since the beginning of the year and is on track to go far beyond last year’s total of 130 murders. It has also surpassed New York, a US megacity with similar size and population, in terms of murders for the first time.

Corbyn, who will hit the local election campaign in London with Mayor Sadiq Khan, will say later in the day that the new push to get Labour candidates into office comes in "the shadow of one of the most violent periods we have experienced in recent times - not just here in London but across our country."

He will then target cuts to the police funding, which have forced authorities to remove thousands of officers from the streets.

"You simply cannot maintain community cohesion when you slash funding to the police service and cut the number of officers on our streets by 21,000,” he says.

"You cannot protect local communities when you cut funding to local councils to such an extent they are unable to provide the essential youth service support that stops many young people from being drawn into violent crime,” he adds.

"The Tory record on policing and crime is one of reckless failure. Plain and simple - you can't have security on the cheap and cuts have consequences. Too many communities are living with those consequences," Corbyn further argues.

The elections on May 3 will see voters go to the ballots to decide seats on about 150 councils across England. London, with every borough council seat up for election, is expected to be one of the key battlegrounds between Labour and the Tories.

Corbyn will also try to build a strong case against the Conservatives by reminding Londoners the government’s “reckless failure” in handling last year’s Grenfell Tower fire which killed 71 people.

"That fire simply would not have happened if the occupants had been wealthy. That is the brutal but inescapable truth," he will say, criticizing the government for mishandling a much-awaited inquiry into the deadly inferno.