MET Police Commissioner Cressida Dick admitted today that it would be “naive” to suggest Tory austerity had had no affect on fighting crime.

She told the home affairs select committee that “austerity has probably had something to do with” the recent spike in violent crime in London, which has claimed 65 lives already this year.

Labour shadow policing minister Louise Haigh said the commissioner’s comments fatally undermined the Tory line that police cuts had not had harmed crime prevention.