A Conservative councillor has skewered Sir Sadiq Khan over skyrocketing crime rates in the Capital as he scoffed at the mayor’s “dodgy data”.

Alessandro Georgiou accused the Mayor of London of “cherry picking” data to suit his own agenda on GB News, just a day after he grilled Sir Sadiq in the debating chamber.

“Since you became mayor in 2016, knife crime has gone up by 27 per cent. Violence against a person has increased by 26 per cent.

“Robbery has increased by 57 per cent. Theft has increased by 37 per cent. Shoplifting has increased by 109 per cent.”

On Sir Sadiq’s response, he claimed the mayor failed to address the issue, adding: “He tried to obfuscate talk about statistics that were irrelevant. He loves to cherry pick.

“But the whole point is we have to look at his mayoralty on crime over the last nine years. It just can’t be random facts and statistics as he loves to use.

“He just has to look at his record, but instead he just likes to hide behind dodgy data as he normally does.”

Taking the example of phone theft, Mr Georgiou further accused the Mayor of whittling down the number to a “cherry pick date range” over the past nine months.

“But he’s been Mayor of London for nine years, which we’ve had a massive crime wave year on, year on year under him. So he can cherry pick all he wants. But it doesn’t matter.”

However, fellow panellist and political commentator Kyle Wiltshire admitted that he felt “sorry” for the Mayor.

He said: “What we’ve seen, and you know this as well as I do in the last few years, is both the right and the left, as Alessandro says, cherry picking statistics to suit their own ends.

“Now, I’m not saying that’s what you’re doing, Alessandro, but you surely know and accept that people do use the cherry pick statistics. And of course you’ll do that.

MORE FROM CRIME-RIDDEN LONDON:

• ‘An absolute, damn disgrace!’ Sadiq Khan blasted over dodging grilling on London grooming gangs
• Labour council tackles e-bike mayhem as ‘on-the-spot’ fines hope to end blocked
• Algerian sex offender re-arrested nine days after being mistakenly released from prison

“Violent crime being down to the year to March, for instance, is a good thing.

“You know, phone thefts starting to be tackled by the new the newly appointed lead on phone theft. That is a good thing. He says that not enough has been done. But we need to go further.

“You can’t win in this media environment. So I do feel sorry for Sadiq Khan.

“These violent gangs are like a game of whack-a-mole. You get rid of one type of theft or one type of crime, and another pops up somewhere else.”

Issuing a fiery response in return, Mr Georgiou said: “A phone in London is stolen every six minutes. You know, we are talking millions of pounds stolen off of Londoners under that man.

“I agree. It’s not cherry picking. The thing is, these are facts. You don’t need the right to whip up hatred against Sadiq Khan.

WHe does it all on his own because he’s a useless, ineffective mayor that has, just as I said before, caused a crime wave across London over the last nine years.”

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “Nothing is more important to the mayor than keeping Londoners safe.

“Sadiq is determined to do all he can to tackle and its complex causes and build on progress that hs been achieved in London, with the number of young people being injured with a knife down 26 per cent, homicides down 17 per cent, gun crime with lethal barrel discharges down 43 per cent and burglary down 27 per cent since 2016.

“The Mayor has doubled his annual investment in the Metropolitan Police from City Hall and will citniue to invest record amounts in policing as we know there is more to do.”

Our Standards:
The GB News Editorial Charter