Comedian and GB News contributor Steve N Allen has dressed down Sadiq Khan over “feeling unsafe” in the capital after the London Mayor insisted the city was “one of the safest” in the world.
The funnyman was reacting to the news that bosses at coffee chain Costa have drafted in bouncers to guard stores.
“Don't get me wrong, the sandwiches are quite expensive. So I can see why,” Steve joked before turning to serious matters.
He questioned: “Isn't it just another example of how we don't feel particularly safe?”
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“I know you'll have a clip of Sadiq Khan saying London is the safest in comparison to loads of other cities… That's talking about homicide rates.
“It's a different world. Homicide rates versus shoplifting,” Steve stressed.
GB News host Stephen Dixon jumped in: “Well, compared to the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, it is safer.”
The comedian concurred, adding that any narrative can be spun “If you find the right metric, if you cherry-pick your data”.
Steve N Allen despaired about people not 'feeling safe' as he dressed down London Mayor Sadiq Khan
|GB NEWS
“No one enjoys being in a shop, seeing stuff being nicked around you,” he added.
“We are all seeing that now. The real, real worry is that it doesn't matter where you go,” political commentator Suzan Holder concurred.
She continued: “People at home will know they'll have gone somewhere, whether it's their local store, whether it's Marks and Spencer's, whether it's a department store, and they will see people filling their pockets, filling their bags and walking out.
“I don't think we used to see it like that.”
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The London Mayor has insisted the capital is 'one of the safest cities in the world'
|GETTY
Amid previous claims about rampant crime in London, Sir Sadiq had insisted that the capital was “more than two-and-a-half times safer than New York, five times safer than LA, 12 times safer than Chicago”.
He also hit out at Reform UK’s mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham, who claimed people around the world “pitied Londoners for living in a city that was 'no longer safe'”.
Citing a fall in homicide rates, the London mayor said: “This latest startling statistic shows that those who talk down the capital at every opportunity couldn’t be more wrong: in London, the evidence is clear, we’re winning the battle against violent crime.”
Hitting back at the Mayor, Ms Cunningham told GB News: "Homicide has always been low in London. Luckily, it is the narrowest and lowest slice of the pie that we've ever had. But you don't measure safety in terms of who dies, you measure safety in other crimes.
Laila Cunningham has hit out at Sadiq Khan for 'gaslighting' Londoners by hailing the capital's reduction in homicide | GB NEWS / PA"Rape is up, mugging is up, robbery is up, shoplifting is up, theft from a person is up, knife crime is up, and drugs are up. And that is the reason why Sadiq Khan and Sir Mark Rowley have only mentioned homicides. They didn't mention any other stuff because there is no other stat that paints a rosy picture, like they like us to have."
"The fact that they compared us to Chicago, the fact that we are being compared in terms of crime rates to Chicago means we've lost the argument," she added.
Defending the state of law and order in London, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley declared "London is safe" as he promised to crack down on "dangerous men".
He told The People's Channel: "We're targeting the most dangerous men, repeat offenders in domestic violence or stalking cases and throwing everything we have at protecting women and children.