Reform’s new candidate for mayor claims people pity Londoners for living in an unsafe capital. But the evidence is clear: we’re making our streets safer

Last year, something extraordinary happened in London. As the conversation about crime got even louder, London quietly reached the lowest per capita homicide rate in its recorded history. Even London’s harshest critics have to accept this is impressive progress.

For too many, it will no doubt come as a surprise. In recent years, politicians and commentators have sought to spam our social media feeds with an endless stream of distortions and untruths – painting a dystopian picture of a lawless place where criminals run rampant.

Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London