Third of people share Donald Trump’s belief that London has no-go areas
A survey found that the public generally overestimates crime in the capital.
A third of people share Donald Trump’s view that there are “no-go” areas in London, according to polling.
Earlier this month the US president claimed there are parts of the capital where police are “afraid to go” because there is “no law and order”, in comments which came a year after he told a gathering at the United Nations that London wants to “go to sharia law”.
A survey of more than 2,000 UK adults, carried out in March and published on Thursday, found that 34% of the public believe there are areas in London where sharia law dominates and non-Muslims cannot enter, making them “no-go” places.
A slightly higher proportion (36%) disagreed with this and around a fifth of people said they did not know if this was the case or not.
Mr Trump, in an interview with GB News last week, claimed London is a “much different place”, with “crime that’s very high”.
He went on to say: “You have areas in Paris and London where the police don’t want to even go in them, there’s no law and order. They’re afraid to go in them. Either they’re afraid or they just don’t, you know, they don’t want to lose their life.”
The YouGov survey for the “London has fallen? Misperceptions of crime, race, religion and life in the UK capital” research by King’s College London (KCL) found that the public generally overestimates crime in the capital.
Inflated views of crime in London
On average, people felt 30% of people in London had personally experienced a crime in a single year, while Londoners themselves thought it was 25%.
Both were much higher than the reality of 12.2%, KCL researchers said.
Reform UK supporters had the most inflated view of the risk of crime in London, estimating it at 40%.
The research also showed that the Muslim share of London’s population is estimated at more than double its true size – with the public on average guessing it to be 35% when in reality it is 15%.
Reform UK and Conservative party supporters were more likely to overestimate the Muslim population of the city, at 50% and 40% respectively.
However Labour and Green supporters were less likely to recognise that some crime has risen, the research found.
While violence and sexual offences have both increased in London, fewer than half of those parties’ supporters thought that either had gone up – compared with majorities of Reform and Conservative supporters.
'Dark blizzard of disinformation' Lord Sadiq Khan
Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the policy institute at KCL, said: “London has become a lightning rod in our national debate – deeply connected to arguments about crime, immigration and the direction of the country – with the sense that ‘London has fallen’ now a recurring theme in political, media and social media narratives.
“This study shows people don’t just have varying opinions about the capital; they’re working from different facts about it – with many being far too negative about the realities in London.”
Writing in The Times, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan blamed a “dark blizzard of disinformation about our capital city online”.
Lord Khan said: “The most recent ONS data shows you are less likely to be a victim of violent crime in London than you are in the rest of England and Wales. And this year the capital came top of the World’s Best Cities ranking for the 11th year in a row.
“The facts show that London is on the rise. Sadly, though, a report released by King’s College London today shows that many British people see things differently.
“The gulf between the real London and the false idea of London that exists inside some people’s heads has never been more pronounced. The cause is a dark blizzard of disinformation about our capital city online, where London is described as a lawless dystopia in decline.”