Edmonton Labour Party

Andy Love strongly rebuts bogus Conservative claim that violent crime is up 44%

Edmonton’s Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Andy Love has issued a strong rebuttal of the bogus Conservative claim that violent crime is up by 44 percent under Labour, adding that the statistic is not only wholly wrong but is scaremongering in its truest form.

The figure, which was used by Conservative candidate Andrew Charalambous in a leaflet featuring a shocking image of a machete dripping with blood, described by the Independent newspaper as the “scare tactic of the day,” comes from a speech given by Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling based on completely non-comparable statistics.

The 44 percent refers to the increase in violent crime between 1997 and 2008, but during this time the Home Office changed the way the police recorded and reported on crimes, which led to huge discrepancies in statistics when data is compared over time.

The Conservatives already knew this 44 percent figure was inaccurate because the House of Commons Library, where the figures are contained, published a briefing explaining how to compare crime figures over the period discussed at the very request of the Conservative Party.

Furthermore, Chris Grayling was rebuked by the independent UK Statistics Authority earlier this year for his use of statistical manipulation.  And the British Crime Survey has also refuted the idea that violent crime has shot up.  According to their statistics, violent crime has actually fallen by 41 percent since 1997.

Commenting on the unnecessary scaremongering, Andy said…

“I find it extremely sad that the Conservatives feel the need to talk our country down and use scaremongering statistics that simply aren’t true.

“The latest figures from the Home Office showed that crime in Enfield is coming down and that is particularly true in the case of violent crime, where in Edmonton there have been far fewer cases of knife crime than two years ago.

“It is ironic that whilst the Conservatives are saying that crime is on the up, Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson is failing to protect the neighbourhood police guarantee that ensures every neighbourhood in London has a minimum Safer Neighbourhood Team of beat officers of one sergeant, two police constables and three PCSOs to patrol local streets.”