The Home Secretary has insisted that police have enough resources to tackle crime despite claims that government cuts are contributing to a spate of violence.

Emergency plans to extend stop and search are in a tough package of measures the Home Secretary Amber Rudd is announcing following a string of fatal stabbings and shootings in London in recent weeks.

Meanwhile a former police officer said that younger officers were 'afraid' to use stop and search, as figures showed its use has fallen.

The Metropolitan Police carried out 19,931 stop-and-searches in January and February this year, a drop of some six per cent compared to last year.

The Home Secretary has insisted that police have enough resources to tackle crime despite claims that government cuts are contributing to a spate of violence

Ms Rudd has denied that a rise in violent crime is linked to cuts to frontline policing under the Conservative government.

New ‘Offensive Weapons’ laws to be introduced within weeks will make it illegal to own so-called ‘zombie killer’ knives and knuckle dusters used by gangs – and allow police to raid homes to seize them.

The latest move reflects a change of direction for Mrs May, who has introduced a series of curbs on stop and search since 2010, claiming they are unfair to young black men, damaging to community relations and do not cut crime.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the Home Secretary said figures suggested the number of bobbies on the beat and instances of violent crime were not linked.

'As we confront this issue, I know that the same arguments and criticisms will emerge,' Ms Rudd said.

'One is the contention that there are not enough officers on the streets. The evidence, however, does not support this.

'In the early 2000s, when serious violent crimes were at their highest, police numbers were rising. In 2008, when knife crime was far greater than the lows we saw in 2013-14, police numbers were close to the highest we'd seen in decades.'

A former London officer told the newspaper young recruits had the 'fear of god' that police chiefs would not back them up if they made a mistake with stop and search powers.

Emergency plans to extend stop and search are in a tough package of measures the Home Secretary Amber Rudd is announcing following a string of fatal stabbings and shootings

Labour's Angela Rayner (left) said the Government was wrong to ignore the impact of police cuts, while minister Sajid Javid (right, pictured today) said recorded crime was at a low

Javid defends Government's record on policing The Communities Secretary told the Andrew Marr Show: 'When Theresa May was home secretary, what she wanted to do was rightly make sure that when stop and search powers were used that they were used within the law.' In 2013 some 27% of stop and searches were carried out illegally, he said. 'The police like everyone else need to act within the law and if they believe the powers need to change then they will rightly talk to government and as we have shown today we will listen and if we need to extend those powers that is exactly what we will do.' The Home Office said it plans to consult on extending stop and search powers to enable officers to stop and search someone they suspect is carrying a corrosive substance in public without good reason. Labour's Angela Rayner said cuts to youth services and education also have a 'knock-on effect'. 'It's not just about police, of course it's not, it's about the wider public service and supporting families to make the right choices,' she said. She said Labour supported 'evidence-based' stop and search tactics based on local intelligence 'to ensure that we know who those children are and we target them rather than targeting on ethnicity'. She said: 'It's targeting stop and search rather than just going randomly around saying 'I think you look like you might be a gang member so therefore I'm going to stop and search you'.' Advertisement

The initiative came after growing calls for action to combat a rise in violence which has seen London's murder rate rival New York's this year.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning that recorded crime was at historic lows, but admitted there was a particular problem with violence on the street.

'If you go back a decade serious violent crime was a lot higher than it is today but so were the police numbers,' he said.

'We recognise there are pressures on police, of course there are, there are all sorts of pressures, that's why from 2015 we have protected police budgets, there is a settlement for police funding.'

The Cabinet minister unveiled plans for a new set of laws that will crackdown on knives and acid, saying it would be made illegal for anyone to buy a knife online and have it delivered at home.

Under the plans it will be illegal to carry acid in a public place without good cause, while ander-18s will be banned outright from buying acid.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Theresa May and Amber Rudd were 'ignoring their record on security'.

'They have cut 21,000 police officers from our streets,' he said on Twitter.

Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said the Government was wrong to ignore the impact of policing cuts.

She told Marr a reinvention of neighbourhood policing had been a 'triumph' of the Labour government.

Ms Rayner said: 'When you see children being stabbed to death on the streets, it's time to say stop where you are going and invest in our children's future.'

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: 'We have seen knife crime increase in 39 of the 43 police forces across the UK.

'It's not just about austerity but I think when the Home Secretary sticks her head in the sand and suggests that losing 21,000 police officers off our streets doesn't have an effect then I think that's a very naive position.'