Cost of living crisis will lead to increase in youth violence, experts warn

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A lot of these kids will be hungry – they get an offer of free food then they’re in debt to a gang who will want them to do things in return.” Mr Babu said hard-working families in poorer areas across the country are struggling to afford the basics and young people will suffer most as a result. “We had the banking crash in 2008 and the response to that was austerity, then we had Covid, then we had the cost of living crisis, then we had war in Ukraine, all of these are going to cause a lot of problems for someone like the chancellor who is trying to balance the books, and what we tend to do is overlook poverty.” Mr Rennie explained that a failure to address the issue of poverty would result in more violence, more drug-taking and more drug deaths following a year where 30 teenagers were killed in London, the most on record. He added: “If we try to suppress that by putting people into prison we’re waging a war on poverty instead of recognising that the steps we’re taking is going to increase poverty and create more social problems, these are political decisions.” open image in gallery Former Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu Analysis by London City Hall revealed that three-quarters of the London boroughs with the highest levels of violent offending are also in the top 10 most deprived, while the same boroughs have higher proportions of children under the age of 20 living in poverty than the capital’s average. open image in gallery Economists predict that around 1.3 million people will be pushed into poverty “Unless you give young people positive role models, give children something to do, give them hope, a sense of encouragement then sadly you will end up with violence.