Rising knife crime in Britain prompts debate about austerity

Knife crime is rising for the fourth straight year in Britain — there were 43,000 such offenses in the year ending Sept. 30, 2018 — though over all it has declined markedly since the mid-1990s. Two recent fatal stabbings of 17-year-olds have refocused national attention on the problem and created a political crisis for Prime Minister Theresa May.

The opposition Labour Party is blaming austerity for the rise in knife crime, and Mrs. May’s own home secretary, Sajid Javid, has clashed with her, demanding emergency increases in police funding.

Analysis: There are more than 20,000 fewer police officers today than in 2010, and many now spend hours doing the work once done by mental health agencies that have been cut back or eliminated. But analysts largely agree that the data does not connect rising crime to diminished police presence. Instead, they point to austerity cuts to social services, like youth centers and interventions for children who are expelled from school .