A politician has hit out at the Mayor of London over a rise in burglaries in Havering and Redbridge.

New data from the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) revealed that burglaries increased by 12 per cent in Havering and 18 per cent in Redbridge between the end of 2016 and 2017.

The London Assembly member for Havering and Redbridge, Keith Prince called burglary a “heinous crime” which has a “damaging impact” on people’s lives.

Mr Prince said: “It is deeply concerning that the number of burglaries taking place in Havering and Redbridge have increased significantly over the past year.

“This is yet more evidence that Sadiq Khan is simply failing to crack down on crime in London – crime is soaring at a time when the Government has increased police funding.”

Since 2010 government funding to the Metropolitan Police has been cut by £700 million and their overall budget is £3.3 billion

The number of police officers in London has also dropped below 30,000 for the first-time in 15 years.

But Mr Prince blamed continued to blame Mr Khan for the increase in burglary.

He added: “The Mayor needs to get tough on crime and stop restricting the Met’s ability to fight crime by unnecessarily meddling in operational policing”.

In February this year the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan announced he would invest an extra £110 million into the Metropolitan Police.

Earlier this year he also announced a £45 million Young Londoners Fund to invest in youth services across the capital to stop young people getting involved with crime.

In London as a whole burglary has gone up by 5.9 per cent.