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David Lammy has criticised London mayor Sadiq Khan over plans to increase the use of police stop and search powers in the capital.

The Labour MP for Tottenham said he was disappointed the mayor had chosen to use the controversial tactic as a "political football" following the fatal stabbings of four men on New Year's Eve.

Mr Khan outlined plans for a "significant increase in the use of targeted stop and search" earlier this week.

Mr Lammy told The Guardian: “I am disappointed that the vexed issue of stop and search is again being used as a political football, and I have made my views clear to the mayor of London.

“We cannot continue to have different policing for different communities – it is inherently unfair – and the latest figures, published last October, show that the racial disproportionality in terms of who is being stopped and searched is actually getting worse.

“As we speak, there will be a young, white, middle-class man smoking a joint with impunity at a campus university, and the police will be nowhere in sight.

"But a young black or Muslim man walking through Brixton or on Tottenham High Road will be stopped and searched, and end up with a criminal record that blights their life chances for ever.”

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: "The Met Police and mayor are determined to step up the fight against violent crimes like knife and acid attacks.

"Londoners will see the police bearing down on these crimes in 2018 and this will include an increase in the use of intelligence-led and targeted stop and search.

"The Mayor knows from personal experience that when done badly, stop and search can cause hostility and community tensions.

"He spent many years campaigning against the indiscriminate and counterproductive mass use of stop and search powers in the past.

"The Mayor knows that stop and search alone won’t rid our streets of the scourge of knives. It is going to need everyone stepping up to the plate, with a comprehensive public health approach to tackling this.

"Government cuts to the police mean there are fewer police officers in London and government cuts to the public sector have made it harder to be tough on the causes of knife crime.

"Due to the government’s botched probation privatisation and prisons policy when violent criminals are successfully prosecuted they are less likely to be rehabilitated, meaning a return to violent crime."

