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As the father of two teenage children, I worry every day about the rise of violent crime across Britain.

And as the Mayor of London, I dread waking up and hearing from the Met Police that another young life has been tragically lost.

The causes of the rise in violent crime are extremely complex and involve deep-seated problems like poverty, inequality, social alienation, mental ill-health and a lack of work and opportunities for young people.

This has been made far worse by huge Government cuts to the police and preventative services like youth services, local councils and charities.

This week the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, admitted for the first time that the police won’t be able to tackle violent crime without more Government funding.

(Image: PA)

This is welcome, but I’m frustrated that it’s taken two-and-a-half years of banging my head against a wall to

get ministers to understand that cuts have consequences.

Government cuts have forced the Met Police to make £1billion of cuts since 2010. Every penny of these cuts, at the very least, needs to be reversed if we are to tackle this scourge of violent crime.

If Theresa May’s Government does not act at next month’s police funding settlement it will have completed a shocking betrayal of a generation of our young people.

Despite the central government cuts, I remain determined to show personal leadership on tackling violent crime in London. I’ve funded the Met’s new Violence Task Force – 272 officers dedicated to tackling violent crime in the communities worst affected.

I’ve also provided £45million as part of my new Young Londoners Fund to support a range of education, sport, cultural and other constructive activities for children and young people.

(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)

And I am establishing a new Violence Reduction Unit to tackle the root causes.

We’re learning from the excellent work done in Glasgow and elsewhere around the world, taking a comprehensive, long-term approach, and partnering with local councils, communities, youth services and charities to cure the causes of

violent crime.

This problem can’t be completely fixed overnight. It took Glasgow a decade to turn things around. But we can make more progress right now. Our police and youth services can make a huge difference if they are given the funding they need now.

Only if the Government now matches words with action and at the very least fully reverses its cuts to the police and youth services will we finally make the progress we desperately need in tackling violent crime.