London mayor candidate wants to combat ‘black on black’ knife crime and more stop and search

Reform UK’s London mayoral candidate has suggested that there is a problem with ‘black on black’ knife crime. Businessman and campaigner Howard Cox added that he would ‘increase stop and search’ if elected.

Londoners will go to the polls to choose the city’s leader on May 2, with Mr Cox taking on 11 other candidates. These include the Labour incumbent, Sadiq Khan, and his Tory challenger, Susan Hall.

Speaking to MyLondon while enjoying a pint of beer in the Shipwrights Arms next to London Bridge station, Mr Cox said: “I would increase stop and search, but it’s got to be intelligence based. You don’t just go up to about three invariably black guys or something like that, and I’m not suggesting they’re criminals, please don’t put words into my mouth.

READ MORE: Sadiq Khan has ‘no plans’ if he loses London Mayor election despite ‘real prospect’ of Tory win

“But most black on black crime in terms of knife crime is black on black, and that’s a fact.” Asked to clarify if he thinks knife crime is a particular problem in black communities, he said: “Yeah.”

Mr Cox added: “That’s what the statistics say. We mustn’t shy away of saying that. I want to protect the black community because they are Londoners, they are decent people, they’re hard working people.”

Police would be posted inside supermarkets and fast food outlets

Reform UK’s pick for City Hall has also said that he would ‘triple visible policing levels’, and install police public access points, including inside supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Mr Cox claims to have spoken to supermarket managers about the idea, whom he says were supportive.

It comes as the man he would have to topple, Sadiq Khan, told MyLondon that he is tackling crime as if it were an ‘infection’ that must be stopped before it spreads. The mayor claimed that, over the past eight years, there has been a ‘reduction’ in gun crime, homicides by both knife and guns, fewer young people [under the age of 25] injured with a knife and fewer burglaries.

But he added that there are still too many violent incidents. Susan Hall says she would spend £7 million on providing London schools with knife detection arches.

The Tory candidate added that £375,000 would also be provided to ensure that all frontline police would have access to knife-detection wands. During an exclusive interview with MyLondon last year, Ms Hall also pledged to inject £200 million into the Metropolitan Police Service to ‘stop these gangs of youths running through our streets with machetes’.

She added: “We’ve got to have more police officers on the street, we’ve got to have better results for people when a crime is committed.”

A London Labour spokesperson said: “This election is a close two-horse race between Sadiq, and the hard-right Conservative candidate for Mayor who couldn’t be more out of touch with our city and its values […] The choice is between Sadiq with a positive vision who will continue to build a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone, or the hard-right Tory candidate, who stands for cuts to London’s public services, inequality and division.”

Read our full sit down interview with Sadiq Khan ahead of the London mayoral election on May 2 here. Read our chat with Susan Hall here.

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