London’s homicide rate is at a record low as mayor says it disproves Trump’s ‘dystopian’ claims

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks during an interview in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON — London’s murder rate fell in 2025 to its lowest level in decades, officials said Monday. Mayor Sadiq Khan said the figures disprove claims spread by U.S. President Donald Trump and others on the political right that crime is out of control in Britain’s capital.

Police recorded 97 homicides in London in 2025, down from 109 in 2024 and the fewest since 2014. The Metropolitan Police force says the rate by population is the lowest since comparable records began in 1997, at 1.1 homicides for every 100,000 people.

That compares to 1.6 per 100,000 in Paris, 2.8 in New York and 3.2 in Berlin, the force said.

“There are some politicians and commentators who’ve been spamming social media with an endless stream of distortions and untruths, painting an image of a dystopian London,” Khan told The Associated Press. “And nothing could be further from the truth.”

Trump, who has been directing insults at Khan for a decade, said in September that crime in the city is “through the roof.” He has called Khan a “stone-cold loser,” a “nasty person” and – in front of the UN General Assembly in September – a “terrible, terrible mayor.” Trump has also claimed without foundation that Khan wants to bring Sharia, or Islamic law, to London.

City officials say a combination of targeted policing aimed at organized crime and a violence reduction unit that aims to stop young people getting involved with gangs have helped reduce violent crime.

A falling murder rate is only part of the story. Many Londoners have first-hand experience of phone-snatching, and shoplifting has surged, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales, which asks people about their experience of crime rather than relying on police figures, found overall crime rose by seven per cent in the year to March 2025 from the previous 12 months, though it remains significantly lower than in 2017.

Arguments that London is a crime-plagued dystopia under Labour Party mayor Khan have mushroomed on social media sites including the Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, and are echoed by opposition politicians, often tied to anti-immigrant views.

“There are certain politicians, certain commentators who have been using London as a punchbag” to fit their own political agenda, Khan said.

“London is, in my view, the best city in the world. We are liberal, we are progressive, we are diverse. And we are incredibly successful,” he said.

Khan said London is the “number one city in the world for tourism, the sporting capital of the world, the cultural capital of the world, more international students than in any city in the world, a record amount of foreign direct investment. Last year, more Americans came to London to study or to work or to invest since records began. So we’re the antithesis to everything these nativists believe in. And if you’re President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, or if you’re an imitator in Europe or indeed in the U.K., I can see why this is a problem to you.”

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press