Patel claims Labour government risks 50 more murders a year.

Monday 09th December 2019 12:42 EST
 
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel with Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police Dave Thompson
 

The Home Secretary has claimed that the election of a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn would lead to 52 more murders a year and a violent crime epidemic.

Writing for The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, 8th December, Priti Patel, claimed that Labour’s opposition to police use of stop and search would lead to fewer criminals being caught and more weapons on the streets.

According to her the increase in weapons could mean up to 4,000 extra violent assaults a year, nearly 150 more sex assaults and 52 more murders, equivalent to one a week based on an analysis by the Conservative research department. The same report also claims there would be 882 more firearms on the streets. She wrote,

“I said, without apology, that I wanted those same criminals to feel terror at the thought of committing offences.”

The department has used official statistics from the Home Office on how many people have been arrested for possession of an offensive weapon or firearm as a result of the use of a stop-and-search power and then, using separate figures from the Office for National Statistics, extrapolated estimates of crimes that the weapons could have been used for.

The report itself reveals it is based on the assumption that anyone arrested for the possession of an offensive weapon or firearm would have gone on to commit a crime at some stage had it not been seized by the police. This however, is an assumption that can not be proven.

Earlier, on Monday 9th December, Boris Johnson was challenged by LBC’s Nick Ferrari over these claims and was unable to explain where the figures had come from.

Last month, Ministry of Justice figures showed that black and Asian people are being subjected to more stop and searches by police while the tactic is being used less on white people.


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