Britain's Labour government was thrown on the defensive over law and order last night, after Home Office figures showed a sharp increase in violent crime across England and Wales.
An overall 0.2 per cent fall in the crime level reflected the general trend under Labour and Conservative governments over the past seven years. And the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, was able to hail the evident success of targeted policing initiatives with falls in burglaries and car crimes.
However, the 8 per cent rise in violent crime last year contained within it a 21 per cent rise in robberies and street muggings, which Mr Straw attributes to the increasing theft of mobile phones from young people and the growth of street gang culture in large cities.
Seventy per cent of all robberies take place in the five big metropolitan forces, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Merseyside and the London Metropolitan Police.
The figures were an embarrassment for Labour, which campaigned in 1997 on the promise to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". And as the Tories disputed Labour claims of an overall increase in police numbers, it was clear that law and order would prove a major battleground in the general election, widely expected to be held on May 3rd.
There was additional embarrassment for Mr Straw when it became clear that Scotland Yard had dramatically increased the number of ethnic minority applicants seeking to join the force by including those who had described themselves as being of Irish origin or "white other".
This meant the number of ethnic recruits to the Metropolitan police last year was just four and not the 218 indicated in the published figures.
The Home Secretary said he was deeply concerned that the figures were inaccurate but he had no evidence of any deliberate attempt by the Met to mislead the public.
Overall crime in the capital rose by 3 per cent last year with a still-higher 27 per cent increase in muggings and other street crimes. Westminster emerged with the worst street crime levels of any London borough, while Lambeth had the highest robbery rate.
Across England and Wales burglaries were down for the seventh consecutive year (by 8 per cent) while thefts of and from cars also fell by 7 per cent. There was also a 10.9 per cent fall in drug offences, although this is seen as a post-Macpherson decline in the use of police "stop and search" powers. Outside London, West Midlands police recorded the highest number of robberies.