A study published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime links council cuts to youth services and the increase of knife crime. This is a position working-class people have been putting forward for years!

Areas worst hit by youth spending cuts also saw some of the biggest knife crime rises. Council youth services have been cut by 40% since 2014-2015.

This study was produced by politicians responsible for passing on austerity cuts. It's good to acknowledge the link, but what are they going to do about it?

The chief constable of Birmingham police promised 'more patrols and more stop and search'. Just bringing in more officers doesn't guarantee crime being reduced.

In March, the Socialist Party said: "Measures like [extra police on the streets] can have a contradictory impact - sometimes making whole communities feel criminalised rather than protected - especially with police powers like 'stop and search' which disproportionately target black people."

Police should be democratically accountable to the communities they police in order to ease the tension where it exists.

There needs to be a holistic approach - understanding the social factors behind crime such as poverty. Poverty is increasing every day.

Low-paid and insecure jobs, unaffordable housing and increasing rent, draconian welfare sanctions, rising transport costs of transportation and cuts to youth centres and youth programmes mean future opportunities are being stolen from this younger generation.

In desperation, people can turn to gangs and crime to escape from poverty.

This is a shocking study, but it proposes no action. We need to tackle poverty head on with rent control and council homes, a minimum wage of at least £10 an hour as a step towards a real living wage, free education and living grants so students don't leave education in debt, and fully funded youth and public services.

A socialist society would value the lives of young people. And take the wealth at the top into public ownership under democratic workers' control to start to do this.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.