Speaking to BBC London last night, Mr Livingstone said murders were up by 8%, a figure disputed by Mr Johnson’s team which says “the number of murders has fallen by more than 24%” according to the Metropolitan Police’s own figures.
A spokesperson for Mr Johnson said: “the number of murders in January is at its lowest level for five years. This drop in the murder rate comes after Boris Johnson invested an extra £42million in the Met and secured another £90million from Government. This means he is putting 1,000 police on the street over his term in office.”
Johnson’s campaign called on Mr Livingstone to “apologise to Londoners for repeatedly trying to con them with completely inaccurate claims.”
The former Mayor’s campaign say he was referring to crime figures published on the Metropolitan Police Authority’s website which show a 7.6% increase in the 12 months from November 2010 to October 2011.
Candidates for Mayor include Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat), Jenny Jones (Green party), Ken Livingstone (Labour), Lawrence Webb (UKIP) and Boris Johnson (Conservative).
