Recorded crime has leapt by the biggest spike in crime since 1990, new figures out today reveal.

The number of crimes logged by police is up 14 per cent to 5.3million, recorded crime statistics published by Office for National Statistics showed.

Statisticians said the data show continuing rises in the number of 'higher-harm' violent offences, which were most evident in knife and gun crime categories.

Police forces registered 37,443 offences involving a knife and 6,694 gun crimes, the figures show.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales - seen as a more accurate measure overall by the ONS but which fails to correctly track the most serious crimes - has crime down as a whole, in line with long term trends.

Separate statistics out today show there were 121,929 police officers in the 43 forces in England and Wales at the end of September 2017 - the lowest number since comparable records began in 1996.

Recorded crime has leapt by the biggest spike in crime since 1990, new figures out today reveal. The number of crimes logged by police is up 14 per cent to 5.3million. Changes for 1998, 1999 and 2016 are not available because of changes in the way recorded crime was counted

Police recorded crime logged 5.3 million crimes in the year ending September 2017, new data from the Office for National Statistics shows today

Knife crime is up 21 per cent compared with the previous year and the highest tally since comparable records started in the 12 months to March 2011.

Gun crime also went up by a fifth, to 6,694 recorded offences.

The statistics show forces logged a total of almost 1.3 million general 'violence against the person offences' from October 2016 to September 2017, a year-on-year rise of 20 per cent. This is a broad category including murder, assault, harassment and stalking.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: 'These figures are truly shocking and should put an end to Government complacency on crime.

HOW HAS CRIME CHANGED? According to today's police recorded crime statistics: Total recorded crime: UP 14 per cent

Violence against the person: UP 20 per cent

Sexual offices: UP 23 per cent

Robbery: UP 29 per cent

Theft: UP 11 per cent

Fraud: UP 7 per cent

Drug offences: DOWN 6 per cent Advertisement

'The Tories are failing in a basic duty to protect the public. They have now cut over 21,000 police officers since 2010, leaving forces across the country under-staffed and over-stretched.

'Police numbers are now at their lowest in 30 years. You can't fight crime on the cheap.

'These statistics are an indictment of this Conservative Government's policies. Labour will address this crisis and recruit 10,000 new police officers.'

Shadow Policing Minister Louise Haigh, whose analysis revealed the new figures showed the biggest one-year rise on record, added: 'Police numbers are now at historic lows as violent crime , knife crime and robberies all soar.

'The public will be astonished that as crime rises, police officers are still being laid off leaving us all vulnerable to crime.

'The truth is, the public are now being forced to pay the price for the reckless Tory cuts which have risked public safety.'

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the figures proved the Tories could not be trusted with keeping the public safe

Policing minister Nick Hurd insisted the 'traditional' method counting crime statistics showed that crime overall was reducing in Britain

A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May told a Westminster briefing: 'The independent Office for National Statistics is clear that overall traditional crime is continuing to fall. It is now down by almost 40 per cent since 2010.

'On violent crime, there can be no place in our society for serious violent crime.

'Anyone guilty of committing such offences will continue to feel the full force of the law.'

Policing Minister Nick Hurd said: 'The independent Office for National Statistics is clear that overall traditional crime is continuing to fall, and is now down by almost 40% since 2010, while fraud and computer misuse - the most commonly experienced crime - has reduced by 15% in the past year.

Total police recorded crime has over ridden steadily over the past two years. The graph shows quarterly data from the end of 2015 to the autumn of 2017

'It is also welcome that the police's recording of crime is improving, and that more victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence are feeling empowered to come forward.

'But we know that some of the increase in police-recorded violent offences is genuine which is why we have taken urgent action to stop these crimes.

'We will be announcing tough new laws to crack down on acid attacks and knife offences.

'And as crime changes, we will change our response - our forthcoming Serious Violence Strategy will place a new emphasis on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote the strongest possible law enforcement response.'

Crime has soared by 14 per cent with even bigger rises in knife and gun offences, new data reveals today

Knife crime rose for the second year running, according to the latest data released by the Office for National Statistics today

Yvette Cooper MP, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: 'The rise in police recorded violent crime is a very serious concern, particularly the big increase in knife offences which can devastate young lives.

'Much more action is needed to address violent crime and keep communities safe.'

The Office for National Statistics said that police-registered crime must be interpreted with caution, attributing much of the rise to changes in recording practices and increased confidence of victims in coming forward.

Its preferred measure, the Crime Survey for England and Wales, gave a total of 10.6 million incidents, which was a fall of 10 per cent.

ONS statistician Mark Bangs said: 'These latest figures indicate that levels of crime have continued to fall compared with the previous year, but this picture varied acrossdifferent types of crime and not all offence types showed falls.

'While overall levels of violent crime were not increasing, there is evidence of rises having occurred in some of the low incidence but more harmful categories such as knife and gun crime.

'The first year-on-year comparisons from new estimates of fraud, one of the most frequently occurring crimes, indicate fewer incidents were experienced by the general population compared with the previous year.'