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Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pointed the finger at former Chancellor George Osborne and Theresa May for the growing number of violent crimes recorded in the Capital over the past few years. Mr

Khan accepted responsibility for the crime wave but continued to blame police cuts for the rocketing number of stabbing attacks and shootings in London. Speaking to the Today programme, the

Mayor said: "I take responsibility for crime in London, I’m the Policing and Crime Commissioner. "I’ve got to be honest with Londoners that the responsibility for the massive cuts

in our public services, including youth services and the police, began with George Osborne and Theresa May." During his tenure as Chancellor, Mr Osborne pledged not to cut police

funding but in the 2016 budget, he authorised slashing police grants by £200 million in England and Wales.  Mr Khan was presenting a new scheme aimed at reducing crime similar to measures

adopted in Glasgow to improve policing and curb violence. He continued: "My policy is, I can’t wait for the Government to step in and help us, but we gotta do it ourselves. "What

they did in Glasgow was have a public health approach towards serious violent crime. Dealing with violent crime like an infectious disease, stop the infection, stop it from spreading and

then deal with the causes. What we are announcing today is a multi-disciplinary approach. "The Police and City Hall working in partnership with councils, the NHS, with schools, with

your services, social workers, to make sure we deal with the cause of serious violent crime alongside enforcement." A man believed to be in his 20s became the latest victim of the wave

of violence after he was pronounced dead in Tufnell Park after being stabbed on Tuesday. Recent figures from London's Metropolitan police showed knife crime has rocketed by 16 percent

in London over the past year. The number of offences involving a knife or blade in the year to March 2018 rose to 40,147, marking a seven-year-high. According to official statistics from the

Met Police, there were 1,299 stabbings in London up until the end of April. Steve O’Connell, chair of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, said: “Whilst we welcome this

initiative it has been a long time coming. “As the Police and Crime Committee has been urging, the Mayor is now taking a more holistic approach to tackling violence; instead of just focusing

on knife crime. “We commend the Mayor for finally recognising that a broader approach which addresses the causes of violence is needed to halt the scourge of violent crime, in all its

forms, that is blighting our city. Communities need to be involved for this type of approach to work and London is very complex. “However, there is a worrying lack of detail as to how this

Unit will operate across such a vast area as the whole of London. We will be keeping a close eye on whether this new plan has an impact on the ground and does not end up a missed

opportunity.”