Londoners Are More Concerned About Cost Of Living And Housing Than Crime

Crime is of "secondary" concern to Londoners behind housing and the cost of living, according to Antonia Jennings, chief executive of the Centre for London think tank.

Jennings has said that the cost of living is often "front and centre" in her experience of Londoners' concerns, but polling from Savanta for the think tank found that more than half of Londoners still think that mayor Sadiq Khan has done badly on gangs and knife crime during his time in office. 

The Conservatives have faced backlash this week for attacking Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on crime in a campaign video. Khan is hoping to be re-elected to City Hall when voters go to the polls on 2 May, while the Conservatives hope that their candidate Susan Hall can unseat him. 

The party has been criticised for a video posted earlier this week that contains claims such as Londoners staying inside scared of violent crime, and Khan having “seized” power, despite having been elected twice. 

Polling data from Savanta for the Centre for London earlier this month showed that more than half (58 per cent) of Londoners questioned think that Khan has done badly at dealing with knife crime and gangs. These figures were more pronounced among older respondents and people who had voted Conservative in 2019. 

According to the data, 47 per cent of 18 – 34 year olds think that Khan has done badly on this metric, compared to 78 per cent of those over the age of 55. Among those who voted Tory at the last general election the number was 71 per cent, compared to 55 per cent who voted Labour. 

Jennings told PoliticsHome that crime is a “natural hook” for the Tories to campaign on, but that even though people do have concerns about crime and how it's handled by devolved regional