London mayor Sadiq Khan cites new police data showing homicides at lowest level since 2014, hitting back at critics including Donald Trump.
LONDON: Mayor Sadiq Khan has defended London’s safety record after new data showed the city’s homicide rate fell to its lowest level in a decade.
The Metropolitan Police reported 97 homicides in 2025, the lowest annual total since 2014.
London’s homicide rate per capita was also the lowest since records began in 1997.
Khan has faced criticism from UK Conservative and far-right politicians, as well as international figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, who claim criminality has increased.
“I’m fed up with these politicians and commentators spamming our social media with an endless stream of distortion and untruth, and this is evidence to the country,” Khan told AFP.
He stated that London is “objectively safer than Paris, than Milan, than Rome, than Berlin, than Brussels, than Toronto”.
“London is safer than every state in the USA,” Khan added, claiming it is “two and a half times safer than New York, five times safer than Los Angeles, 12 times safer than Chicago”.
On Trump’s frequent attacks, Khan said, “It’s for President Trump to explain why I’m living rent-free in his head.”
“I suspect that’s why President Trump and others with similar views to him attack London the way they do,” he added.
The Met police said the statistics show “London is a safe place to live, work and visit”.
Violent incidents resulting in injury have fallen by a fifth since 2014.
NHS figures show hospitalisations from stabbings in London fell by nearly 30% over the last five years.
The latest statistics did not include data on thefts or sexual offences.
Anti-immigration party Reform UK said fighting crime in London will be a priority ahead of May’s local elections.
Its mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham recently claimed London “is no longer safe”, particularly for women.
Phone thefts remain an issue, with 117,211 stolen phones recorded in 2024, up around a quarter from 2019.
Khan highlighted results from increased policing in areas like the West End tourist district.
“We’re bearing down in terms of enforcement,” he said, while also “imploring mobile phone companies to do more”.
He suggested companies could implement a “kill switch” to make stolen phones useless.
