Refoɾɱ London ɱayoɾ candidate says London is ‘no longeɾ safe’ – is it tɾue?

Laila Cunningham said Londoners are ‘pitied’ by the rest of the UK (Picture: Guy Bell/Shutterstock)
Reform’s candidate for Mayor is starting her campaign strong by saying she ‘pities’ those of us living in the capital.

Standing alongside Nigel Farage, Laila Cunningham, a former crown prosecutor and now Westminster city councillor, said she wants to launch an ‘all-out war on crime’.

She said at a London press conference: ‘I love this city with all my heart, but unlike some in this room, I’m not blind to what it’s become.

‘London, one of the greatest cities on Earth, is no longer safe, and that doesn’t happen by accident.’

And Farage agreed. He added: ‘Khan can’t think London today is the greatest city of the world. He is deluded and he wants to get out more.’

Cunningham is currently Reform’s London mayoral candidate for 2028, but following her remarks she’s been accused of ‘talking down the city’.

Laila Cunningham with Nigel Farage at a Reform press conference (Picture: Guy Bell/Shutterstock)
Dinsdale Broderick who has lived in London since the 1980s, told Metro: ‘It is the typical “you’re either with us or you’re against us”. Like any major city, London has its issues, including crime and citizens have to be street-savvy, but that goes with the territory.

‘Mud-slinging by desperate politicians seeking election will only serve to give them notoriety but won’t help the situation. If only they would put a fraction of that energy into creating positive solutions.’

Fact check: Is London no longer safe?

And the comments from the Reform politicians might indeed be a bit too harsh.

The number of murders in the first nine months of 2025 was the lowest since records ever began. Knife crime also fell by nearly 20% between April and June.

But more petty crimes continue to be on the minds of many Londoners as vigilantism grows in popularity.

London’s resident pickpocket hunter Diego Galdino, who is being increasingly relied upon to help with crime in the capital (Picture: Belinda Jiao)
Between March 2023 and 2024, the Metropolitan Police received more than 79,000 reports of pickpockets. Some 28,155 were reported in Westminster, with one in seven people in the area having something – mainly mobile phones – stolen from them.

Pickpocket hunter Diego Galdino works full time to stop the thieves from targeting tourists and locals alike in the centre of the city.

He said: ‘I always see police just standing around. A lot of them are good but there are officers on patrol I just see vaping while pickpockets are out there targeting people.’

‘There’s no such thing as zero risk’

David Bond, who has lived in London all his life, said: ‘I don’t think the deterrence is strong enough, and petty crime seems to be getting worse.

‘Phone snatching, vandalism and bike thieves. I have a few friends who have their tools stolen from the back of their vans.

‘I would not vote for Sadiq Khan. and I would say respect for law and order has only gone down.’

But like with any major city, it is impossible for it to be a crime-free utopia.

The worst cities for crime levels in Europe

The Numbeo Crime Index has ranked the following cities according to crime levels:

Bradford, United Kingdom

Marseille, France

Coventry, United Kingdom

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Naples, Italy

Grenoble, France

Montpellier, France

Liege, Belgium

Nantes, France

Paris, France

Lyon, France

Manchester, United Kingdom

Nice, France

Malmo, Sweden

London, United Kingdom

Athens, Greece

Amadora, Portugal

Odessa (Odesa), Ukraine

Brussels, Belgium

Dublin, Ireland

Out of all UK cities, it doesn’t even make the top three for crime rankings, with Bradford, Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester all suffering worse levels.

And compared to the rest of Europe, it doesn’t even make the top 10, with cities like Marseille, Naples and Liege all ranking higher.

Lizzie France, who has lived in London for more than a decade, told Metro: ‘I see Reform supporters getting jittery about a day out in central London which just seems silly.

‘There’s no such thing as zero risk but I certainly don’t feel more unsafe in London than I do in other places.’

‘We should pity Londoners’

Cunningham said she will give ‘new marching orders’ to the Metropolitan Police to tackle crime, and stop people from the rest of the UK ‘pitying’ Londoners.

She said: ‘When I was growing up, London was the place to live, the place to work, the place to build a life. People envied us that live here. Now, they pity us. They say: “London’s a bit too dangerous for me.”‘

But do Londoners deserve any sympathy, and are they even asking for it?

Lizzie added: ‘London is fantastic and nowhere else can compare. You’ve got so much choice and diversity on your doorstep. There’s constantly new restaurants, new plays, new exhibitions.

‘I grew up in a small village near a small market town and I don’t think I could ever go back.’

And the multiculturalism seems to be the shining light for many.

Dara Stringham, who has lived in London since 2001, said: ‘I fell in love with London when I visited for the first time aged about twelve.

‘I remember sitting on the tube and hearing languages from all over the world around me. I knew then it was the place for me.

‘The buzz, the diversity, the culture – I instinctively felt that it was a beautiful and creative place.’

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