New analysis has shown Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood are the MPs for two of the constituencies with the highest crime rates in England and Wales.
Starmer’s seat Holborn & St Pancras and Mahmood’s constituency of Birmingham Ladywood are second and third in the country for crime rates.
Birmingham Ladywood has the second highest number of crimes of any constituency in the last year with 38,111 offences, equivalent to more than 100 a day.
Meanwhile, Holborn and St Pancras constituency comes in third with 36,090 crimes in the last year.
Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood
PA
Topping the table is the Cities of London & Westminster seat, held by Labour MP Rachel Blake, which has a the highest crime rate with 89,446 offences, equivalent to nearly 250 a day.
Birmingham Ladywood has the highest number of violence and sexual offences, accounting for 13,608, and vehicle crime, at 3,403.
Meanwhile, Holborn and St Pancras, which Starmer has represented in the House of Commons since 2015, is the second highest for theft from the person, with 7,309 offences, second for other theft at 6,169 and is third for robbery with 1,315 recorded offences.
Cities of London & Westminster is top for burglary with 2,367, robbery with 3,244, public order breaches with 3,939, shoplifting 6,249, anti-social behaviour 9,549, theft from the person 25,334 and other theft 19,151.
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Rachel Blake, the Labour MP for the Cities of London & Westminster
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The research was carried out by CrimeSpotlight UK and mapped police-recorded data on to geographical areas to provide a breakdown by crime type for constituencies.
Dr Lawrence Newport, a legal academic who is working with the researchers at CrimeSpotlight, told The Telegraph: “It is clear that our politicians are aware of the spread of crime on our streets, they are surrounded by it, so we need them to actually act on it.
“Just last week, Labour MPs were told to keep their phones in their pocket after several MPs had their phones stolen, right outside Parliament.
“In the past year, Britain has seen an explosion in phone thefts, shoplifting and robberies. The majority of these offences are committed by a tiny fraction of career criminals.”
MPs were told to keep their phones on them in the Houses of Parliament
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Overall, police recorded crime also fell by three per cent in the year to March 2024.
However, this masks variations between different crime types with sexual offences including rape having increased sharply, as have knife crime, now close to record levels and fraud and shoplifting, which is also at a record high.
A Government spokesman said: “This Government has made it clear it will turn the tide on crime and deliver on its mission to make streets safer.
“We will deliver thousands of additional neighbourhood police and community support officers and bring in tougher measures to tackle persistent offenders.”