Lawless Britain latest: violence hits record low

Overall crime levels are down more than three quarters on their peak in then mid-1990s.

If you listened to the likes of Nigel Farage over the last few months, or spent a few minutes scrolling through Elon Musk’s X account, you’d be led to believe that Great Britain is a lawless hellscape, where crime and violence is soaring as a result of migration.

But, would you believe it, the complete opposite is actually closer to the truth, according to new figures released.

This week saw the annual Crime Survey published. Set up in 1981 by Margaret Thatcher and carried out on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, the survey asks thousands of Brits about their experiences of crime, given that research shows the majority of crimes are not reported to the police.

The survey therefore aims to give a more accurate picture of crime in Britain.

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Participants are asked about their experiences of crime over the last 12 months, so, alongside police recorded data, it is a valuable resource for tracking changing levels of crime from one year to the next.

And this year’s results show quite the story.

As noted by Times columnist Fraser Nelson, the Crime Survey recorded the lowest levels of violence since it began, with 939,000 incidents in the year to June 2026. This is down a remarkable 79% since the peak of 4.46m in 1995.

Robbery also hit a record low of 54,000, down more than 10,000 on the year before (65,000).

And across the board, crime (excluding fraud) is down by more than three quarters (78%) since the 1995 peak.

The real kicker in debunking the far-right’s ‘lawless Britain’ narrative? The consistent decline in crime over the last two decades has taken place at the same time as the immigrant population has gone up.

Over a period where the immigrant population has more than doubled, crime levels have more than halved.

Knife crime in particular has seen a dramatic fall. NHS figures show hospital admissions for assault by knife or sharp object are at their lowest level since the series started in 1998.

Meanwhile, 2025/26 saw the second-lowest year on record for the number of hospital admissions for assault (19.5k).

This all follows a trend that has become apparent over recent months. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has not been afraid to call out the rhetoric of the likes of Musk when stats show crime is falling in the capital.

You can read more about the data on Fraser Nelson’s Substack here.