Knife crime has increased by 21% in the 12 months to September [Image: Diverse Images/Getty Images/Universal Images Group].

Both have risen, with crime up by 14 per cent in the last year – and homelessness up by a staggering 169 per cent since the Tories came back into office in 2010.

Here‘s The Guardian on the rise in crime:

The rise in crime in England and Wales is accelerating, with a 14% year-on-year increase in offences recorded by forces across England and Wales, according to police figures.

Knife crime has gone up even more steeply, by 21% in the 12 months to September, and gun crime has risen by 20%, according to quarterly figures released on Thursday.

The police figures show domestic burglary rose by 32% to 261,965 offences and vehicle thefts rose 18% to 443,577.

Meanwhile, official figures show the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 930 in the past 12 months, to 121,929, the lowest level since comparable records began in 1996. Police officer numbers are now 22,424 below their peak in 2009, when there were 144,353 officers.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott had this to say about it:

“These figures are truly shocking and should put an end to Government complacency on crime.

“The Tories are failing in a basic duty to protect the public. They have now cut over 21,000 police officers since 2010, leaving forces across the country under-staffed and over-stretched.  Police numbers are now at their lowest in 30 years. You can’t fight crime on the cheap.

“These statistics are an indictment of this Conservative Government’s policies. Labour will address this crisis and recruit 10,000 new police officers.”

Let’s go back to The Guardian for the word on homelessness:

Rough sleeping in England has increased for the seventh consecutive year, official figures show, and charities say even this steep rise fails to capture the true level of street homelessness.

Statistics published by the government on Thursday reveal that an estimated 4,751 people bedded down outside overnight in 2017, up 15% on the previous year.

Homelessness charities said the figures, up 169% since 2010, were a catastrophe and a scandal, while Labour blamed government policies for what it called the “shameful” figures and promised to eliminate rough sleeping in the first term of a Labour administration.

Remember when the Tories were banging on about having a “long-term plan”?

If this is the result, nobody should be impressed.

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