Pinning 125,000 Deaths on the British Conservatives

Politics and Economics

Photograph: Mimi Karasan

Does the title of this article capture your concern? After all, 125,000 deaths is deeply distressing. What makes this figure more horrific, still, is its context. In fact, these deaths took place only over a decade (2010-20) and were caused by knife crime alone. 160 of these individuals were children. Many more of these individuals would have been parents. It is easy, and ignorant, to say that these individuals’ killers are all violent psychopaths, and these kinds of accusations do not bring about change, nor do they make our streets any safer. The problem is fundamentally systemic, and it originates from the Conservatives.

If you recall the elections last May for the Mayor of London, then you may remember that knife crime seemed to be the staple of every candidate’s campaign, a talking point that all candidates, to some degree, could agree on. The Conservative Party, or the Tories, as they are known, has long been committed to tackling knife crime, yet they have stimulated and intensified this violence with numerous regressive policies, concealing themselves in the cape of austerity. King among these policies are budget cuts to welfare spending and police services, as well as the egregious underfunding of our overstretched National Health Service (NHS).

In wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the Conservative Party won the 2010 general election with David Cameron at the helm. Their goal was to eliminate the budget deficit and fight national debt in order to secure a brighter, healthier nation for Britain’s future generations, which was somewhat ironic given the destructive consequences of this ambition. Since 2010, 600 youth centres have been closed across the UK as a direct result of cuts to fiscal spending, eliminating 130,000 places for troubled and disadvantaged children in those centres. Children require support - support which they have not been receiving from Britain’s schools and public services, especially those children who grow up in violent or deprived neighbourhoods.

Moreover, reductions in spending on benefits for the millions of British citizens living in poverty have forced many good people to turn to crime simply to put food on the table for their families. We live in a rich, prosperous, and developed nation, and still, these are the cruel conditions that many of our people have to endure and survive in. The relationship between austerity policies and knife crime is irrefutable, and we are only just starting to see the full extent of the damage.

Adults and children alike across the country are afraid of becoming victims of knife crimes, and this fear is encouraging more young people to carry knives - not as a weapon but as a means of self-defence. People feel the need to protect themselves because they do not feel protected by the police. Countless budget cuts to police services have left them overwhelmed and unable to respond effectively to emergencies when they arise. Between 2010 and 2018, over 20,000 police officers were cut from the public payroll despite a consistent rise in knife crime. Police services are unable to protect communities and respond as swiftly as they should, and so many of our great cities are descending into chaos.

My last point is perhaps the most important of all as it addresses why almost 40% of knife crimes result in a fatality. The conceited, heartless nature of the Conservative Party was made blindingly clear when they chose to vote against free school meals and reject pay rises for our NHS workers. The British government has countless times rejected bills to increase the budget of the NHS; it is a well-known fact that our National Health Service has been overstretched and recent events have only exacerbated the situation. An underfunded health service does not have the manpower nor the resources to effectively treat stabbing victims, and are definitely unable to deliver ambulances at a sufficient speed to reliably save lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen knife crime hit an all time high in the UK, and it is the responsibility of the government to provide help to the communities that need it most.