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Policing in London

I will give way to the Minister in a moment. On 11 March 2008, the current Mayor of London told the Home Affairs Committee:"““crime continued to rise until 2003; since then it has fallen by 21 per cent.””." Let me put that in its historical context. According to the Home Office figures, which are there for all to see—I say that for the benefit of the hon. Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love)—there were just under 130,000 recorded offences of violence against the person in London in 1998-99. Guess what the figure was in 2006-07: it was 182,000. That is an increase of 40 per cent., according to Home Office figures. In 1998-99 there were 26,000 robberies in London. Guess how many there were in 2006-07: well over 45,000. That is an increase of over 74 per cent.