School exclusions and youth violence ‘should be priority for Mayor’

Knife crime in London has hit a new high (Picture: PA)

Tackling youth violence should be the number one priority for the next London Mayor, a group of community activists said today.

London Citizens said the teenage knife crime epidemic had overtaken the lack of housing as the biggest issue in the capital. It called for radical interventions including more money to reduce school exclusions, the appointment of a “parent commissioner” at City Hall and curbs on the “misuse” of stop-and-search powers by the police.

It comes in a manifesto that the main contenders for Mayor will be asked to back at a hustings attended by 6,000 people at the Copper Box arena in the Olympic Park on April 21.

London Citizens is made up of hundreds of civic, education and faith organisations and has become increasingly powerful at articulating the wishes of grassroots organisations and younger, ethnically diverse Londoners.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” if re-elected but his record has been criticised after 149 killings last year, the highest in 11 years. Yesterday Tory candidate Shaun Bailey failed in a bid to amend the Mayor’s budget to make £104 million of cuts and savings in other City Hall services to spend more on police.

Many of our learners have come to us after being excluded from education

Oran Blackwood, ELATT training centre sixth form

Four years ago London Citizens said the shortage of affordable housing was the biggest issue. Now, after “tens of thousands of conversations” with members, concerns about youth violence have risen to the top of the agenda.

School exclusions are seen as an area of concern as teenagers forced into pupil referral units are at risk of being cherry-picked for a life of crime.

Oran Blackwood, head of sixth form at ELATT training centre in Hackney, said: “Many of our learners have come to us after being excluded from education, with little hope for their future.”

149

killings last year was the highest total for 11 years

The Standard is campaigning to reduce school exclusions. A “parent commissioner” would help speak up for parents who feel powerless to direct their children away from crime. The group also wants an “accountability taskforce” to be established in which community leaders review police bodycam footage of controversial stop and searches.