Youth club closures are putting young people at greater risk of violence, according to a committee of MPs which has found that English councils have slashed funding on youth services by 40% on average in the last three years.

After a bank holiday weekend which began with news of the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Tashaun Aird and continued with the killing of an 18-year-old in south London, the 28th knife fatality in the capital this year, the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime revealed new data from more than 100 councils showing cuts to youth services of up to 91%. It claimed areas that had suffered the largest cuts to spending on young people had seen bigger increases in knife crime.

According to its analysis of responses to freedom of information requests, areas with the biggest cuts include Wolverhampton, Westminster and Cambridgeshire. The responses also revealed a 51% drop in the overall number of youth centres supported by English local authorities since 2011 and a 42% drop in youth service staff over the same period. Of the councils that responded, 88% had seen at least one youth centre in their area close.

“Our figures show how in areas where support for young people has been cut most, they are more at risk of violence,” said the committee chairwoman, Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon Central. “Youth services cannot be a ‘nice to have’. Our children’s safety must be our number one priority.”

Cambridgeshire’s youth service budget fell from £3.5m in 2011 to £0.7m last year, while knife crimes rose from 220 in 2014 to 430 in 2018, the data showed.

Cambridgeshire said it had moved away from providing youth clubs that were open access and instead provided “targeted and focused service for those children and young people who are most vulnerable and most at risk”, as well as parenting programmes and support for families. It said the level of support for young people most in need in the county had not changed.

In March, the Guardian reported from one youth club in Acton, west London, as it was halved in size, sparking concern that it would diminish its ability to prevent violence. Those fears increased last month when two boys who attended the club were injured in knife fights.

The MPs are calling for the government to review youth funding cuts and consider setting a legal requirement for councils to provide youth services. The government defended its policy, citing changes to the drug market as one cause of increased stabbings.

“Our serious violence strategy places a greater emphasis on early intervention to steer young people away from violent crime by offering positive choices, alongside equipping police with the powers and resource they need to keep communities safe from this threat,” a spokesperson said. “We are putting more than £200m into community projects and are consulting on a vital public health duty which will see public bodies work together more effectively to prevent serious violence.”

Last month, the prime minister, Theresa May, hosted a summit on youth violence and the home secretary, Sajid Javid, launched a consultation on a new legal duty to ensure public bodies, including hospitals, raised concerns about children at risk of becoming involved in knife crime. The idea has been criticised as “dragnet surveillance” by the civil rights campaign group Liberty; unions for teachers and NHS staff have also raised concerns.

Javed Khan, the chief executive of the Barnardo’s children’s charity, described the figures as “alarming but sadly unsurprising”.

“Taking away youth workers and safe spaces in the community contributes to a ‘poverty of hope’ among young people who see little or no chance of a positive future,” he said. “The government needs to work with local authorities to ensure they have enough funding to run vital services and restore children’s sense of hope.”