Met police commissioner Mark Rowley says Trump talks ‘complete nonsense' about crime in London
Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning. Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about London.
Trump has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico. He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan.
In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too. He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September.
Rowley told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were “complete nonsense”.
Rowley said:
There’s no no-go areas, that’s completely false.
How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous. The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It’s lower than all their big cities. The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.
The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it’s lower than Paris, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Berlin.
This is a safe city. I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect.
This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it.
Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians.
Key events
Afternoon summary
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Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, has accused President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about crime levels in London. (See 11.20am.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Peers told there's ‘perception we are being unreasonable' as debate on assisted dying bill drags on very slowly
The assisted dying bill could have “enhanced protections” added regarding assessments of mental capacity, the House of Lords heard during its final debate on the legislation this year. PA Media reports:
Labour peer Lord Falconer of Thornton, who is leading the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill through the House of Lords, told peers that those who are “particularly vulnerable” should have an “enhanced level of assessment”.
This came after it was suggested that anyone who has been deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act (2005) in the last year should be ineligible for an assisted death.
The former president of the British Medical Association, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, argued that an impairment of capacity serious enough to result in a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) application should act as a “yellow flag” and an “indicator that risk may be elevated”.
Former Labour MP Luciana Berger added: “I hope we can all agree that people whose incapacity for basic decisions is so severe that they are deprived of their liberty or have an application made for the deprivation of their liberty are the most vulnerable members of society.
“And the protection of people who lack capacity is a solemn duty. The state looks after their interests because they cannot.”
Meanwhile, several peers urged colleagues to increase the pace at which amendments are debated to ensure the bill does not run out of time to be passed into law, given the more than 1,000 that have been tabled at committee stage in the upper chamber.
Former Lord Justice of Appeal Lady Butler-Sloss warned that there is “the perception that we are being unreasonable”, and urged colleagues to “exercise restraint, by dealing with the amendments relatively briefly”.
She said: “I don’t like the bill, but I am here like other noble lords to try and make it work. It needs scrutiny, it needs improvement, but we must get it to third reading.
“If we don’t, there is a very real danger that the reputation of this House, which not only I but all your lordships care about deeply, will be, or possibly will be, irreparably eroded.”
Supporters of the bill believe that peers opposed to assisted dying are deliberately dragging out the debates on the amendments to the bill so that it runs out of time and does not become law.
In his comments at the start of the meeting in Downing Street, Bart De Wever, the Belgian PM, said that this was his first visit to the UK since Brexit. He said he thought it was significant that “now, after Brexit” they were holding a meeting on “a lot of bilateral topics” including energy and security.
Referring to Ukraine, he said:
[There are] very important decisions to be made next week at the level of the European Union, but I do understand that we and the UK will get the certainty that we can support Ukraine to stay a free, democratic and sovereign country.
Talking about the relationship between the UK and Belgium, de Wever also claimed that his country was one of the few in the world that hasn’t been invaded by the English at some point.
Our relationship with the UK is much older than the European Union. It goes back to the Middle Ages.
You have always been our ally, always been our friend. There’s never been an English soldier in an unfriendly manner on our soil.
Other version say that Luxembourg and Sweden are the only EU countries on this list.
Starmer says Belgium has been ‘incredible partner' on Ukraine as he starts talks at No 10 with Belgian PM
Keir Starmer has praised Belgium as an “incredible partner” on Ukraine.
Speaking at the start of his meeting in Downing Street with his Belgian counterpart, Bart De Wever in Downing Street, Starmer said:
Let me begin by welcoming you to Downing Street.
It’s very good to have you back here in Downing Street and it is an opportunity for us to discuss the very many challenges that we face, but particularly the issue of Ukraine, where you’ve been an incredible partner, like-minded in action, one of the first in the coalition of the willing to make really significant contributions in terms of what we were able to do, security guarantees, etc.
So, I look forward to that discussion.
How Reform UK, followed by Lib Dems, have been gaining most in council byelections since May
The council byelection won by Reform UK in Scotland was one of nine taking place across the UK yesterday. As usual, the excellent Political Maps UK have the results.
Reform UK gained four seats – two from Labour, one from the Conservatives and one from an independent.
Whitburn & Blackburn (West Lothian) Council By-Election Result [1st Prefs]:
➡️ RFM: 32.0% (+15.7)
🎗️ SNP: 28.0% (-0.9)
🌹 LAB: 17.1% (-13.9)
🙋 Ind: 13.2% (+1.3)
🌳 CON: 3.5% (-3.2)
🔶 LDM: 2.8% (+0.0)
🌍 GRN: 2.7% (+0.2)
🙋 Ind: 0.7% (New)Reform GAIN from Labour – Stage 8.…
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Red Hall & Lingfield (Darlington) Council By-Election Result:
➡️ RFM: 37.7% (New)
🌳 CON: 17.3% (-22.5)
🔶 LDM: 17.3% (New)
🌹 LAB: 16.8% (-37.1)
🌍 GRN: 9.8% (+3.6)
🙋 Ind: 1.0% (New)Reform GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2023.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Aveland (South Kesteven) Council By-Election Result:
➡️ RFM: 41.0% (+26.5)
🌳 CON: 39.5% (+19.0)
🌍 GRN: 16.2% (New)
🌹 LAB: 3.2% (New)No LDM (-26.9) as previous.
Reform GAIN from Conservative.
Changes w/ 2023.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Belmont (South Kesteven) Council By-Election Result:
➡️ RFM: 33.4% (New)
🌳 CON: 33.1% (+1.5)
🙋 Ind: 20.0% (New)
🌍 GRN: 8.5% (New)
🌹 LAB: 4.9% (-14.5)No Ind (-49.0) as previous.
Reform GAIN from Independent.
Changes w/ 2023.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 11, 2025
Commenting on the Darlington result, where Labour came fourth in a seat it was defending, Stephen Bush from the Financial Times says:
There’s more writing than wall at this point.
The Conservatives held two seats – but lost one to Reform UK, and one to the Lib Dems.
Eaglescliffe West (Stockton-on-Tees) Council By-Election Result:
🌳 CON: 60.9% (+4.4)
➡️ RFM: 24.0% (+17.6)
🌍 GRN: 7.6% (-0.2)
🌹 LAB: 7.5% (-21.7)Conservative HOLD.
Changes w/ 2023.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Armitage & Handsacre (Lichfield) Council By-Election Result:
🌳 CON: 46.7% (-6.3)
➡️ RFM: 31.9% (New)
🌹 LAB: 9.4% (-23.5)
🔶 LDM: 7.3% (-6.8)
🌍 GRN: 4.7% (New)Conservative HOLD.
Changes w/ 2023.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
The Liberal Democrats gained two seats – one from the Tories, and one from the SNP. (As a reader points out, Fort William and Ardnamurchan is in fact in the Highland council area.)
Seaton (East Devon) Council By-Election Result:
🔶 LDM: 41.3% (+21.2)
➡️ RFM: 29.6% (New)
🌳 CON: 20.9% (-9.5)
🙋 Ind: 8.2% (New)No Ind (-28.9) or LAB (-12.9) as previous.
Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative.
Changes w/ 2023.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Fort William & Ardnamurchan (West Lothian) Council By-Election Result [1st Prefs]:
🔶 LDM: 40.4% (-18.5)
🎗️ SNP: 29.1% (+3.5)
➡️ RFM: 9.6% (New)
🌍 GRN: 9.4% (+3.4)
🌳 CON: 7.6% (+3.2)
🌹 LAB: 3.8% (-0.7)
🙋 Ind: 13.2% (+1.3)No LBT (-0.6) as previous.
Liberal Democrat ‘Gain'…
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Plaid Cymru held one seat (in Caerphilly, where they recently won an important Senedd byelection).
Penyrheol (Caerphilly) Council By-Election Result:
🌼 PLC: 60.1% (+6.3)
➡️ RFM: 26.5% (New)
🌹 LAB: 7.2% (-24.4)
🌳 CON: 4.2% (-10.4)
🔶 LDM: 2.0% (New)Plaid Cymru HOLD.
Changes w/ 2022.— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 12, 2025
Election Maps UK have produced this chart showing what has happened in all byelections since the 2025 local elections. It shows that Reform UK are clearly doing best, followed by the Liberal Democrats. Labour and the Tories are getting hammered.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, has issued this response about Labour losing a seat to Reform UK in a council byelection yesterday. (See 1.08pm.)
It’s clear that people are frustrated with politics as usual that has failed to deliver the results Scotland deserves.
But our politics must aspire to being more than Reform and the SNP talking up division for their own political gain.
Neither is capable of offering the change people are crying out for and only Scottish Labour can beat both.
In the months ahead, it’s our job to win the trust of voters and show that a Scottish Labour government will end SNP failure and waste, fix the basics, and deliver a Scotland that works for everyone.
Labour Treasury committee chair Meg Hillier says Reeves must accept mistakes were made with budget process
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, gave evidence to the Treasury committee on Wednesday, and she got through it without too much difficulty. Previous chancellors have come along to these hearings knowing that that there will be at least one opposition party member determined to make them look stupid. (John Mann did that job for a while.) Members of the current committee, though, are a bit more restrained in their questioning.
But that does not mean Reeves made a good impression. Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the committee, has written an article for the i in which she says, while she admires Reeves for her resilience, she thinks she should be better at acknowledging her mistakes.
And there were lots of mistakes around the budget, Hillier suggests. She says:
We are all accustomed to the proverbial “rolling of the pitch”, which essentially means that the government indicates where it intends to make major tax or spending changes in a bid to prepare financial markets for what it’s going to announce …
I’m afraid what occurred this year, with the shadow of the mini-budget looming large, was less a rolling of the pitch and more akin to throwing several grenades on to the pitch.
In itself, this isn’t what the process for a budget should ever be, but what’s worse is the government then changed its mind, which left everyone either confused or annoyed. This was a glaring error and one from which all at the Treasury must learn.
Another part of me laments the impact of confused and excessive speculation in the lead up to the budget. The Institute for Fiscal Studies chief Helen Miller told us last week that she’d seen that “firms and individuals are holding back their decision-making” due to out-of-control briefing and counter-briefing.
Westminster psychodrama has a real-world impact, and the government must choose its words extremely carefully. It’s regrettable that it doesn’t appear to have done so in recent months.
Hillier ends saying Reeves must “identify and accept the mistakes made within the process she leads and make sure they do not happen again”.
Reform UK wins first council byelection in Scotland, as Anas Sarwar calls its new Scottish peer ‘odious'
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Reform UK has won its first seat in Scotland in an election, following dozens of attempts, after Labour was trounced in a council byelection in its former stronghold of West Lothian.
After previously holding the seat, Scottish Labour’s vote in the Whitburn and Blackburn ward collapsed, giving Reform UK’s candidate a win in the first round of counting. The turnout was low, however, at 22% – well below the 42% turnout in the 2022 full council elections or the 62% turnout in the last Holyrood election.
Reform’s new councillor David McLennan said:
[This is] a clear signal from local residents that they want their community to take a new, positive direction. This is a vote of faith in Reform in Scotland. We have all the momentum in Scottish politics.
Until now Reform UK’s 20 other council seats were gained through defections. While the 21 seats it now holds is a fraction of the 1,223 council seats overall in Scotland, defeat at Reform’s hands will cause alarm in Scottish Labour headquarters.
A poll on Wednesday by Ipsos for STV confirmed Reform is now effectively neck and neck with Labour before next May’s Scottish parliament election, and is becoming the main vehicle for rising public discontent over Labour’s performance at Westminster.
Ipsos found that Reform UK support had risen four points to 18% for a Holyrood constituency vote, while Scottish Labour’s had dropped seven to 16%; on the regional list vote, Labour was one point ahead of Reform at 18%, but down four.
With the poll placing the Scottish National party 19 points ahead on the constituency vote, Labour faces the competing tasks of proving to voters before next May’s election they are the best vehicle to express anger at SNP failures in government, while also challenging Reform head on, and regaining the hundreds of thousands of voters now favouring Reform.
There was a strong signal during BBC Question Time on Thursday, filmed in Paisley near Glasgow, that Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, plans to confront Reform aggressively when he personally attacked the Reform UK panellist Lord Offord.
He described Offord, a former Scottish Conservative minister and until recently Scottish party treasurer, as an “poisonous, odious man hiding behind the badge of Reform, looking to divide our communities.” Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, recently claimed Glasgow was now being “culturally smashed” by migrants who could not speak English.
More than 10% of rise in disability benefit spending pre-Covid directly caused by other benefits being cut, IFS says
Cutting benefits paid to healthy people leads to more people claiming disability benefits, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found.
It has published a report showing a direct link between cuts in one part of the benefits system, and rising claims in another part of the system, and it says that more than 10% of the rise in disability benefit spending between 2010 and 2019 (the period covered by the research) can be explained by cuts to other benefits.
The IFS focused on this period because there were big cuts to non-health benefits during this period, while health and disability benefits were less affected.
Explaining the study, the IFS says:
We study four reforms: the 2011 cuts to housing benefit for private renters; the increase in the female state pension age between 2010 and 2018; the lowering of the benefit cap in 2016; and the introduction of the ‘lone parent obligation’ between 2008 and 2012, which required more single parents on out-of-work benefits to look for paid work. In each case, we find the reform increased the number of people receiving disability benefits, and we also find that two of the reforms increased the number of people receiving incapacity benefits.
Explaining the link, the IFS says it “could be because the cuts to non-health-related benefits worsened the health of those affected or because take-up of health-related benefits may have increased”.
The IFS concluded:
Overall, a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that all changes to non-health-related benefits and direct taxes from 2010 to 2019 increased disability benefit spending by £900m. This represents 13% of the £7bn increase in disability benefit spending during the 2010s.
As for other reasons why spending on disability benefits has risen since 2010, the IFS says the increase in the size of the working age population, health declines since Covid, and the sharp rise in the cost of living between 2021 and 2023 are all factors.
Commenting on the findings, Eduin Latimer, a senior economist at the IFS and one of the authors of the report, said:
Across four different reforms, we find an unintended consequence of benefit cuts – that they lead to more people claiming disability benefits …
One result of these spillover effects is that the fiscal savings from cutting non-health-related benefits are slightly smaller than previously thought. These effects will likely also have a long-term legacy, as people often stay on disability benefits for many years. The big-picture lesson for policymakers is that changes to one part of the benefit system can shift pressures elsewhere, rather than remove them entirely.
Foreign Office announces sanctions against four senior RSF commanders over ‘heinous' atrocities in Sudan
Senior leaders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been sanctioned by the UK over “heinous crimes” committed during the country’s civil war, the Foreign Office has announced. It says the four sanctioned commanders are “suspected of heinous violence in El Fasher, Sudan, including mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians”.
I have updated the post at 9.33am with the full quote from Wes Streeting about why he is allowing the trial of puberty blockers to go ahead, as recommended by the Cass report, even though personally he is uncomfortable with the idea. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.
Met police commissioner Mark Rowley says Trump talks ‘complete nonsense' about crime in London
Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning. Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about London.
Trump has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico. He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan.
In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too. He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September.
Rowley told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were “complete nonsense”.
Rowley said:
There’s no no-go areas, that’s completely false.
How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous. The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It’s lower than all their big cities. The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.
The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it’s lower than Paris, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Berlin.
This is a safe city. I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect.
This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it.
Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians.
