Amber Rudd has come under fire for presiding over cuts to police officer numbers as London finds itself in the grip of a murder wave.

The Home Secretary is set to unveil a strategy which demands social media companies do more to crack down on videos glorifying violence.

But critics have said police numbers have fallen under her and Theresa May's watch - leaving forces unable to cope with the rising tide of violence.

The chairman of the Met Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, told ministers 'enough is enough' and they must find the cash to beef up policing.

Ken Marsh said while some of the blame should go to social media firms ministers must concentrate on properly funding the police which are at 'breaking point'.

He told Mail Online: 'They need to focus more on us and stop trying to pin it on others. Social media is a problem, but it is not the problem we are talking about - which is funding policing correctly.'

Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Ed Davey told Mail Online: 'Ministers arguing that it is all social media's fault would be rather more credible if they hadn't slashed funding for the police in London and the rest of England.

'The reality is that officer numbers are down, serious crime is up, and it is time they stopped blaming other people.'

Amber Rudd (pictured in Salisbury last month) is set to demand social media companies do more to crack down on gang videos which glorify violence in the wake of the violent crime gripping London

Ministers are under mounting pressure after 50 people have been killed in the capital so far this year - taking the murder rate above New York's.

Police numbers have fallen under Amber Rudd and Theresa May's watch - leaving forces unable to cope with the rising tide of violence, critics say

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Tory cuts to police budgets have cost the capital thousands of police officers

Mr Marsh told Mail Online police officers are having their leave cancelled because forces are under such pressure.

He said: 'Cops have been taken from the streets, put into specialist roles and reduce the numbers - without the visibility on the streets then you can't carry on policing London the way we were.

'How on earth can we expect us to do the same job with 5,000 fewer police officers?

How stop-and-search powers have changed As Home Secretary Mrs May introduced changes in 2014 which meant police are only allowed to stop people when there is 'reasonable grounds for suspicion'. And it warned that where officers misuse the powers they would face disciplinary action. She introduced the measures amid widespread anger to the power, particularly among the black and ethnic minority population, who said it was used disproportionately against them. In the years following the reforms stop and search fell to their lowest level since the power was introduced 17 years ago. But violent crime has risen - sparking calls for the power to be taken up again. Under current stop-and-search laws, police are allowed to search a suspect if the have 'reasonable grounds' that the person is carrying a weapon, drugs or stolen property. Such justification might be that they have witnessed the suspect putting the knife into a pocket. However emergency section 60 powers can be enforced in a set location, such as a town or city, which removes the 'reasonable grounds' criteria. Advertisement

'The Government needs to stop talking the nonsense they are. It is getting a bit daft now.'

He said that social media does create a 'nightmare' but that the buck stops with the Government and funding.

Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott MP told Mail Online: 'This Government has repeatedly failed to get the internet giants to act on serious crime, whether it's internet fraud, hate speech, child pornography or terrorism.

'Under the Tories, the police do not have the necessary resources to tackle this problem and simply asking social media companies to act on the promotion of violent crime is not enough.

'Rather than invite internet companies in for a cosy chat, Labour will make sure real action is taken. We will also restore 10,000 police officers, so that we aren't trying to fight crime with one hand tied behind our backs.'

Lib Dem peer Brian Paddick, the former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner, said: 'The uniformed police presence on the streets and in other public spaces has all but disappeared because of cuts to police funding.

'Police officer numbers have fallen and the number of PCSOs has been decimated.

'As usual, the Government looks for 'no cost' options rather than properly funding the police service.

'I've talked to young people involved in knife crime and tell me seeing police officers on the streets makes them feel safer and reduces the feeling that they need to carry a knife in the first place.

'We need to invest in long-term approaches to tackling the causes of this epidemic of violence but in the meantime we need more police on the streets to keep us all safe.'

Ex US police officer Bill Bratton, who oversaw a significant drop in crime in New York and Los Angeles, said 'you pay for what you get'.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said 'we have seen cuts in police officers on the street' and demanded thousands more officers must be put on the streets.

While Larry Logan, a former senior policeman in London, said the murder surge in the capital is the result of budget cuts which has 'decimated' police numbers.

And Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said police cuts have cost the capital thousands of officers, adding: 'It's time for the Government to stop misleading the public and properly fund our police.'

Ms Rudd is unveiling the Serious Violence Strategy next week, which is expected to include measures to restrict the way apps like Snapchat and Instagram are used by gangs.

Bill Bratton, who oversaw a significant drop in crime in New York and Los Angeles, said 'you pay for what you get' as he warned Britain's police forces are overstretched. He is pictured here centre at a press conference in Manhattan in 2015

Tanesha Melbourne (pictured left) died after she was shot in the street. Her mother Sharon Melbourne and her little sister arrived to lay flowers at the scene

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The instant nature of social media also means that plans develop rapidly and disputes can escalate very quickly.'

He added: 'We are clear that internet companies must go further and faster to tackle illegal content online.'

Deadly knife epidemic gripping the Capital is the worst since records began in 2011 So far already this year, the Metropolitan Police has launched 50 murder investigations. This is the equivalent of three a week - up from two a week last year. But Official figures show that 2017 was the worst year for knife deaths among young people since at least 2002. Forty-six people aged 25 or under were stabbed to death in London, up by 21 compared with the previous year, according to police figures. Figures published in January showed police recorded 37,443 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year ending September 2017 - the highest tally since comparable records started in the 12 months to March 2011. Gun-related crime also went up by a fifth year-on-year, to 6,694 recorded offences. Advertisement

He said the Serious Violence Strategy, will examine how social media usage can drive violent crime and contain measures to tackle it.

But ministers are under growing pressure to get back to basics and find extra cash to plough into police budgets and tackle the rising death toll directly.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow in north London, where a 16 year-old boy became the latest murder victim, said she has 'begged and pleaded' with ministers to pump more money into policing.

She said: 'I've never seen resources so scarce on the ground - to be able to have the relationships with people to get that community intelligence, to support what our police are doing.

'We have lost 100 police around here already from the cuts coming through form government and I have stood up in parliament and begged and pleaded with ministers to give us those people.'

Ms Abbott said: 'We definitely need more community police officers.

'But, without trying to sound party political, under this Government, under Theresa May as home secretary, we have seen cuts in police officers on the street. That's why we're promising at least 10,000 extra.'

'Something has gone badly wrong when we cannot afford to keep our citizens safe.'

How many police officers have been lost from the streets of England and Wales? Police officer numbers have dropped since 2010. Here are the figures: 2010: 144,235 2011: 139,585 2012: 134,580 2013: 129,956 2014: 128,346 2015: 127,485 2016: 124,368 2017: 123,505 Source: House of Commons library Advertisement

Bill Bratton, who oversaw a significant drop in crime in New York and Los Angeles, said 'you pay for what you get' as he warned Britain's police forces are overstretched.

Mr Bratton told The Sun: 'New York City focused on what people saw every day and that was the disorder — what we called the 'Broken Windows' policy.

'This is a theory that visible signs of vandalism and anti- social behaviour, like broken windows, street drinking, ­graffiti and fly tipping, create an environment which actively encourages further and more serious crimes.

'Target the petty crimes aggressively and fewer serious ones will occur.'

He said police needed to take responsibility for the prevention of crime, 'rather than just responding to it'.

Mr Bratton was police commissioner under New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for some 27 months, during which time serious crime went down by 39 per cent.

He said offenders were arrested for minor offences and stopped and searched more regularly, leading to a decline in overall crime.

Mr Bratton, pictured in London in 2002, said police needed to take responsibility for the prevention of crime, 'rather than just responding to it

A forensic tent is in place at the scene of Monday's fatal shooting in Chalgrove Road, Tottenham - the latest murder in London's wave of violence

He also said his methods reflected a model originally set up by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, in 1829 when he set up the Met Police.

MET POLICE CHIEF SLAMS ONLINE ABUSE In recent days, Scotland Yard commissioner Cressida Dick has said gangs were using online platforms to glorify street violence and show off 'with weapons'. Miss Dick also raised concerns about the violent undercurrent in some music, especially grime. She warned that it could lead vulnerable youngsters to think it was 'an admirable thing to be talking about violence and people perpetrating it'. Miss Dick, who has been in the role for 12 months, said she was 'no luddite' and that the internet was 'wonderfully positive in almost every way'. But she added that 'incredibly abusive' language online can 'rev people up'. She told The Times: 'There's definitely something about the impact of social media … people being able to go from slightly angry with each other to 'fight' very quickly … gangs can posture on social media and talk about who they are and what they've achieved. 'It may not be unlawful but it is glamorising it for people, showing off with weapons.' She said that insults or threats online 'makes [violence] faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down. I'm sure it does rev people up'.' Advertisement

Mr Logan, an ex-Scotland Yard superintendent in east London, has said the spike in violence is the result of reduced force numbers and 'decimated' social services due to funding cuts.

He claimed detectives were retiring and quitting 'in droves' because of 'overwhelming' caseloads.

So far this year, the Metropolitan Police has launched 50 murder investigations.

That is around double the number seen in the first quarter of last year and, in the latter two months, it is the first time in modern history that London's homicide rate, which has grown nearly 40 percent in three years, has been higher than New York's.

Fifteen people were killed in London in February, compared to 14 in New York.

And the trend looks set to continue, with 19 killings in London in March – one more than the city on the other side of the Atlantic, where urban violence has long been prevalent.

London also has almost three times the number of reported rapes, but until February this year the murder rate in New York remained higher.

David Lammy, the local MP in Tottenham where a 17-year-old teenager was gunned down on Monday night, said he had requested an urgent meeting with Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Mr Lammy said the violence was bring driven by 'vast' quantities of cocaine being fought over by drug barons.

He said: 'Young men become foot soldiers for gangsters and McMafia bosses much further up the tree.

'We need to bring down the gangsters.'

If the current rate of homicides continues at the pace we have seen so far, there could be as many as 180 people killed on the streets this year.