"The Tories have created the conditions for crime, including serious violent crime, to thrive. The Home Secretary [Amber Rudd] has comprehensively failed to protect the public. Whether it’s Windrush citizens [long term commonwealth-born UK residents] or victims of violent crime, the Home Secretary has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the evidence staring her in the face," Haigh said in a published statement.
She slammed the government for the shrinking of police forces in the country, with about 21,000 fewer officers than there were in 2010.
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The statement was made in wake of the UK Office for National Statistics' (ONS) bulletin on crime against households and adults in the two nations in 2017 published earlier in the day, pointing out a 22-percent increase in offenses involving knives or other sharp instruments as well as an 11-percent increase in firearms crime.
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In April, Rudd rejected claims that falling police numbers were not to blame for the rise in violent crime, arguing that there were "enough police" to tackle the problem. On April 9, the UK government published a new crime prevention strategy, which in particular blamed illicit drug markets for the increase in violent crimes in England and Wales.
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