Knife crime has hit a record high in multiple police force areas across England and Wales, official data show.
Knife offences have reached their highest level since records began in 2011 in seven areas, accounting for 27 per cent of the population or 16 million out of 65 million people, according to the data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
These include the Metropolitan Police, Britain’s biggest force, where knife crime offences increased by 18 per cent to 16,521 incidents in the year to September, more than 2,000 more than the previous record of 14,025 in 2019.
