Sadiq Khan pledges to invest £7.8m to help young Londoners avoid crime

The Labour incumbent is to announce that the new funding will be used to expand his Violence Reduction Unit’s (VRU) community-led programme MyEnds.
Sadiq Khan made the announcement ahead of the London Mayoral election (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
PA Wire
Ted Hennessey29 April 2024
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Sadiq Khan has pledged to invest an extra £7.8 million into tackling “complex causes of crime” if he is re-elected as London Mayor.

On Monday, the Labour incumbent is to announce that the new funding will be used to expand his Violence Reduction Unit’s (VRU) community-led programme, MyEnds, to deliver targeted youth work and mentoring.

It will help support young people in 11 of the capital’s neighbourhoods as they move from primary to secondary school, ensuring they are diverted away from gangs, Mr Khan said.

Tackling violence and making our city safer is my number one priority

Sadiq Khan

The mayor also committed to extending MyEnds to 30 neighbourhoods or estates in areas of London most affected by violence by the end of the next term.

His campaign has framed the May 2 vote as a “neck-and-neck” two-horse race between Labour and the Tory candidate Susan Hall, despite recent polling putting him on firm course for a historic third term.

Mr Khan’s team said it is a choice between someone “building a safer London for everyone” or a “divisive, hard-right Tory opponent” who they say has “strongly backed” cuts to police.

The mayor said: “Tackling violence and making our city safer is my number one priority. As mayor, I have been both tough on violence and tough on the complex causes of violence.

“This major new investment will play a pivotal role in providing targeted support to communities across the capital – whether youth work, mentoring, or a variety of after-school activities.”

However, Ms Hall hit back, saying Mr Khan “has nothing to offer but excuses” while crime in the capital “has soared out of control”.

Investment of this sort does save lives, calms communities, and ultimately saves much needed police and NHS resources

Bruce Houlder, Fighting Knife Crime London

She said: “I am listening to Londoners and as mayor, I will make our city safer. I will recruit 1,500 police officers, put two new bases in every borough, and bring back borough-based policing so the police local to you, supported by a £200 million investment in policing.”

Bruce Houlder, founder of Fighting Knife Crime London, said in the year to January 24 2024, there were 48,716 offences involving a knife or other sharp instrument in England and Wales, 28.9% of which occurred in and around London.

He went on: “The evidence is that some higher crime areas in Greater London lack the support they require. It is very welcome news that more such areas are now to receive it.

“Investment of this sort does save lives, calms communities, and ultimately saves much needed police and NHS resources. This aspect needs to receive so much more attention, and not just at election time.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in