Sir Sadiq Khan has ramped up his war of words with Donald Trump by stressing that the homicide rate in London is lower than in every US state.

The Mayor of London took a new swipe at the US president in their ongoing feud as the Met Police published new figures showing the effect of a rise in stop and search in the capital.

Sir Sadiq did not name Trump but posted on X: “The loudest voices online aren't always the most accurate.

“New data shows our homicide rate is lower than every US state, while murder rates are at record lows.

“The evidence is clear: our approach to tackling crime and its causes works. It’s driving down violence right across the capital.”

Trump has previously branded Sir Sadiq a “stone cold loser”, claimed that crime in London is going “through the roof” and that the city wants to go to “sharia law”, a baseless claim thought to be linked to the London Mayor’s Muslim faith.

“You have a terrible Mayor of London, by the way. I don't want to cause any problems but your Mayor of London is grossly incompetent, a bad person and a horrible representative for your country,” the US president has said.

But a source close to Sir Sadiq said: “Trump and Farage want to paint London as a hellhole because it suits their interest.

“But all the evidence shows they’re wrong. They hate us because London is diverse, multicultural, and continues to be a huge success.”

Laila Cunningham, Reform UK’s London mayoral candidate, has unleashed heavy criticism of Sir Sadiq’s record on crime, arguing that people do not feel safe in parts of the city.

Earlier this year, Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley published figures showing the number of murders recorded in London dropped to its lowest level per capita since records started.

There were 97 homicides in the capital in 2025, down 36 per cent from 153 in 2019 and 11 per cent fewer than the 109 in 2024.

The Met said last year also had the lowest killings since 95 took place 11 years ago in 2014.

The force stated that 2025 saw a homicide rate of 1.1 per 100,000 people - safer than comparable global cities such as New York at 2.8, Paris (1.6), Toronto (1.6), Berlin (3.2), Los Angeles (5.6), Chicago (11.7), and Philadelphia (12.3).

On Monday, the Met published figures showing it carried out nearly 20% more stop and searches over the last year and achieved the highest find rate in the force’s history in July.

More than a third of searches carried out in July resulted in officers finding weapons, drugs, or other evidence of offending, according to the data.

In 2025, stop and search helped officers seize at least 3,800 weapons and discover illegal drugs on more than 27,800 occasions.

Historically, higher rates of stop and search have been linked to lower detection rates.

But the 20% increase in use of the tactic over the last year culminated in 36% of searches in July 2026 uncovering evidence of criminal activity.

A statement from Scotland Yard claimed this was as a result of “officers making more precise and considered stops”.

Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, the Met’s stop and search lead, said: “Stop and search remains a vital tool in helping officers remove weapons from our streets, apprehend dangerous offenders and ultimately save lives.

“But it is also a tactic that must be used fairly, professionally and with the confidence of the communities we serve.”

Research released earlier this year suggested black people are up to 48 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in wealthier parts of London.

Analysis of every stop carried out by Met officers in 2023, covering 152,000 records, also showed the grounds given for search were more vague for black people.

Researchers from Kings College London found the three London ward areas with the highest disproportionality were East Sheen in Richmond, where black people were 48 times more likely to be searched than white, Dulwich Village, where the rate was 40 times, and Hampstead Town, where the figure was 38 times.

In February, black Londoners were 3.4 times more likely than white Londoners overall to be stopped and searched by police. The national rate is four times.