Rees-Mogg: Mayor Khan Must ‘Take Responsibility’ for London Crime Wave

Prominent backbench Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has slammed London Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying he must “take responsibility” for the violent crime wave sweeping the city, driving its murder rate above that of New York City.

Knife crime has surged by more than 30 per cent in London under the leadership of Mr. Khan, who has repeatedly deflected blame on to central government and what he calls “Tory cuts”.

Burglary, rape, and gang-related acid attacks have also surged dramatically, rising fastest in the capital, despite the Mayor claiming the crime wave is a nation-wide problem.

On Sunday night, two more young people were killed, both stabbed by people known to them, and a teenager was stabbed to death on Monday night in east London, police said.

“He is standing on the deck now,” Mr. Rees-Mogg blasted on LBC radio. “The person on the deck always has to take some responsibility because he is clearly not changing policies to make things happen differently.

“But you cannot blame him for the trend that had started before he got in. It is his primary responsibility to be responding. That is where his responsibility lies.”

Mr. Rees-Mogg also defended Theresa May’s role as Home Secretary before she became Prime Minister, after she slashed the use of the stop and search, claiming the police tactic unfairly targeted ethnic minorities.

Mr. Khan also promised to cut the use of such searches, before reversing his stance as violence began to surge in London.

Mr. Rees-Mogg said: “I think the police have the powers they need for stop and search, and it’s how they use them. It is really important that stop and search powers are used in a race-blind way.

“We do not want a group of people from ethnic minority communities feeling that the police are not on their side.”

The MP also revealed that he had himself once been subject to a police search.

“They used these powers to stop me when I was driving a couple of my children along Pall Mall,” he said.

“I was hauled into Waterloo Place. When they saw the boot piled full of children’s clothes etc, they rather recoiled and went away.

“It was because I was in Pall Mall, close to where my mother lives and at that point, they had the ability to stop anyone they felt like for anything in these specified zones around sensitive government areas.”