The increase in knife crime could be linked to cuts in youth service funding, with areas suffering the largest falls showing the biggest rises in violence involving knives.
A study by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) suggested the average council had reduced spending on youth services – which funds things such as youth clubs and youth workers – by 40% between the years 2014-15 and 2017-18.
Two local authorities, the City of Wolverhampton and the City of Westminster, saw cuts of 91% over the same three years.
A direct comparison between geographical areas covered by police forces and local authority boundaries is not possible, but the APPG analysis suggests forces serving areas with the biggest cuts, such as West Midlands Police, the Metropolitan Police, Cambridgeshire Police, and Thames Valley Police, have also seen some of the highest increases in knife crime.
