LONDON would be safer under a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said today.

The Conservative government has forced City Hall to fight crime with “one hand tied behind our backs” as a result of funding cuts to police and public services, he said.

The Labour mayor, who has not always supported Mr Corbyn in the past, joined Metropolitan Police officers in Stratford, east London, to discuss measures put in place to prevent violent crime over the Easter holiday.

He also visited charity XLP, where he spoke with young people about their upbringing in the inner city and heard how the charity has helped them to avoid a life of crime.

Mr Khan has faced criticism from Conservatives over an upsurge in violence in London. His Tory predecessor Boris Johnson accused him last year of blaming “everyone but himself.”

But Mr Khan said central government cuts to spending on police and other public services lay behind the increase in violent crime.

“It is a fact: we’ve lost a billion pounds for the Met Police service over the last eight or nine years and over the course of next year.

“We’ve lost hundreds of millions of pounds for youth work, education and mental health. That’s causing an increase in violent crime.

“If Jeremy Corbyn was the prime minister, he would invest in public services, he would invest in more policing, he’d invest in youth work, he’d invest in the NHS, he’d invest in education,” the mayor said.

“That all leads to a situation where, rather than us having to fight this with one hand tied behind our back, we’d have the support needed from central government.”