0:00:00 > 0:00:00That's Newsnight with Emily.
0:00:00 > 0:00:13Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Welcome to BBC London News, I'm Claudia Liza Armah.
0:00:15 > 0:00:1816 young people have been stabbed to death on the streets
0:00:18 > 0:00:21of London this year - that's up by almost 30% -
0:00:21 > 0:00:24with some saying it's an epidemic.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Today, City Hall outlined a new plan it hopes will help save lives.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30The Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is using social media
0:00:30 > 0:00:34to spread the message, but with so many violent videos
0:00:34 > 0:00:37available online glamorising knives, will young people take any notice?
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Our home affairs correspondent Nick Beake reports.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I am this postcode, this city.
0:00:42 > 0:00:43This world.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45I'm important.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48My friends would miss me if I was gone.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I'm, like, the funniest person in the school.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52Young voices from different parts of our city, but all
0:00:52 > 0:00:54with the same message.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56London needs me alive. London needs me alive.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58London needs me alive.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02After a year of more stabbings, this is the Mayor's attempt to get
0:01:02 > 0:01:07teenagers to think twice before reaching for a blade.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09So I don't carry a knife.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12The plea is that London desperately needs their talents.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Remember, London needs you alive.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Your talent is needed, your brain is needed,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19your intelligence is needed.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22HIP HOP MUSIC.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26The musician Bossman Birdie used to carry a knife
0:01:26 > 0:01:29growing up in Tottenham.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32He then spent time in prison for making a threat to kill.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Now City Hall have signed him up for their anti-knife campaign.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40To me, it's a complete waste of life and it's a waste of this beautiful
0:01:40 > 0:01:44city that we are occupants of, London, you know?
0:01:44 > 0:01:49When you're going around, carrying a knife, you know,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53you're giving away your opportunity to become something crazy.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58Three, two, one. London needs you alive!
0:01:58 > 0:02:00This morning in Brixton, Sadiq Khan met children who have
0:02:00 > 0:02:03been posting online, explaining why their
0:02:03 > 0:02:05lives are valuable.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09It's a campaign backed by London rappers, bloggers and musicians.
0:02:09 > 0:02:16It is hoped their status on social media will help
0:02:16 > 0:02:17the message get through.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Is this actually going to make a difference?
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Look, we've got to do all that we can to address
0:02:21 > 0:02:26the issue of knife crime, which is rising across the country,
0:02:26 > 0:02:27not just in London.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29This is part of a package of measures, along with schools
0:02:29 > 0:02:31playing their part, the police playing their part, parents,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36civic leaders, youth leaders.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39All of us have a role to play in making sure we address
0:02:39 > 0:02:40the issue of knife crime.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Yvonne Lawson's teenage son Godwin was stabbed
0:02:42 > 0:02:43to death seven years ago.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44What does she make of the campaign?
0:02:44 > 0:02:47It can make a slight difference for the younger
0:02:47 > 0:02:48generation, the under 16s.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Whether it can make a huge difference to the young people that
0:02:51 > 0:02:53are already engrossed in criminality, that's
0:02:53 > 0:02:56yet to be proven.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59This positive message may well get through to some kids in London
0:02:59 > 0:03:02but there's no doubt it will also be competing with many other
0:03:02 > 0:03:05negative messages online.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10We're talking about videos and music which glorify violence,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14intensify gang rivalry, and lead to more knife crime.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18For eight months this year, YouTube refused the Met Police's
0:03:18 > 0:03:22request to take down these four videos.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Now they've relented, apart from this one, still up today,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30which Scotland Yard claims is encouraging stabbings.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Bossman Birdie simply sees these videos as a waste of time.
0:03:34 > 0:03:40You're that talented, to sit there and write these lyrics,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43thinking of metaphors, thinking of rhyming schemes.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47To basically make something that is not going to go
0:03:47 > 0:03:50anywhere, purposely.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52It doesn't make sense to me.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55The noise you can't turn off. Nothing moves forward without me.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59So, social media videos, a force for good and bad.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02In this case, they hope it will save lives.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Nick Beake, BBC London News.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09So just how bad is knife crime in London at the moment,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11and what's behind the rise?
0:04:11 > 0:04:20Tolu Adeoye has been investigating.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22These are the faces of the 16 teenagers stabbed to death
0:04:23 > 0:04:24in London this year.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Knife crime has risen by 31% in the capital in the last year,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29the biggest increase in the UK.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31The latest teenager to be killed was 17-year-old Michael Jonas.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35His father said he'd hoped to one day to become a mechanical engineer.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41He's warned that anyone could be a victim.
0:04:41 > 0:04:47Presently, right now, in our own London, here, you don't have to be a
0:04:47 > 0:04:52rude boy, you don't have to be in a gang, you don't have to be, you
0:04:52 > 0:04:57know, among certain people because things, people that tend to want to
0:04:57 > 0:05:02stereotype, because you think it is only bad boys that get stabbed but
0:05:02 > 0:05:07no, it does not have to be. Our innocent kids are dying.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09So why is knife crime rising?
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Perhaps surprisingly, last year the Met revealed
0:05:12 > 0:05:14the overwhelming majority of young people who carry knives
0:05:14 > 0:05:15are not gang members.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Just 20% of stabbings are linked to them.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20St Giles Trust, which works with attackers and victims,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23says there's been a shift in culture among some young people,
0:05:23 > 0:05:29and more resources must be invested to help turn the tide.
0:05:29 > 0:05:36Young people feel in fears that they are turning to carrying knives and
0:05:36 > 0:05:38weapons, there's a glamorisation of that which is happening across
0:05:38 > 0:05:44social media as well. Equally, there are cutbacks in services, that were
0:05:44 > 0:05:48really important, grassroots services such as community centres,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51youth organisations that would keep young people safe.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52So what about police tactics?
0:05:52 > 0:05:55We know the use of stop and search was curbed by the former
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan Howe,
0:05:57 > 0:05:58and subsequently knife crime rose.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01One expert has told us stop and search is an essential
0:06:01 > 0:06:07tactic but it must be used more strategically.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Rather than targeting a whole lot of very scared kids, you need those
0:06:13 > 0:06:18kids on board to tell you who you ought to be targeting. Then it's not
0:06:18 > 0:06:23nearly as resource intensive. The police can't afford to throw lots of
0:06:23 > 0:06:26police out on the streets endlessly searching people, even if it was
0:06:26 > 0:06:30going to do any good. They need an intelligent approach to focusing
0:06:30 > 0:06:34their search operations on the hard-core of individuals who are
0:06:34 > 0:06:38prepared to use offensive weapons to terrorise and cause serious damage.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Well, the Met say they are now using more stop and search,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43and in a more sensitive and intelligent way,
0:06:43 > 0:06:44including carrying out monthly weapon sweeps.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47But they say they can't and won't arrest their way
0:06:47 > 0:06:48out of this problem.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Knife crime is proving to be a far bigger societal challenge.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57"If the intention was to intimidate us, the effect has actually been
0:06:57 > 0:07:01to bring us closer together."
0:07:01 > 0:07:05That's been the response of MPs BBC London has spoken
0:07:05 > 0:07:08to who are among a group accused of being "Brexit mutineers".
0:07:08 > 0:07:10More than a dozen Tory MPs have signalled they will vote
0:07:10 > 0:07:13against government plans to put the exact date of Brexit into law.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Our political editor Tim Donovan has the details.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18They woke up this morning to find their pictures on the front
0:07:18 > 0:07:21page of a newspaper, below a headline
0:07:21 > 0:07:23"The Brexit Mutineers".
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Their leader, according to the paper, is Dominic Grieve,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29former Attorney General, and MP for Beaconsfield.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Alongside him, Oliver Heald, MP for North East Hertfordshire.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Then there's Vicky Ford from Chelmsford, Bob Neale,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38MP for Bromley, and finally Stephen Hammond, whose
0:07:38 > 0:07:40seat is Wimbledon.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42I thought it was a bit odd, really.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46I mean, I've never voted against the government before
0:07:46 > 0:07:49but there are a number of things in this bill which need
0:07:49 > 0:07:50to be corrected.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53He and the others have been targeted because they want to block
0:07:53 > 0:07:56government plans to write the exact Brexit leave date into law.
0:07:56 > 0:07:57Actually, it's illogical to do this.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The government says it wants a freer hand to negotiate.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02By doing this, the government's actually restricting its own ability
0:08:02 > 0:08:06to negotiate with what will be our ex-partners.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Do you feel you're singled out? Well, I think it's silly.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10Some people have classed it as bullying.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12It doesn't worry me in the slightest.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15My job as a Member of Parliament is to represent my
0:08:15 > 0:08:17constituents and the country.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19She's pretty bloody furious.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20But another of those accused of mutineering
0:08:20 > 0:08:21puts it more strongly.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25What I don't like is this attempt by some parts of the press to bully
0:08:25 > 0:08:27and to muzzle dissent.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30And that is a serious point, because it's almost as bad
0:08:30 > 0:08:33as the attack on the judges after they did what was simply
0:08:33 > 0:08:37their institutional job.
0:08:37 > 0:08:38their constitutional job.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41But some of their pro-Brexit colleagues accuse them of wanting
0:08:41 > 0:08:42to wriggle out of Brexit.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Well, absolutely not.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46I accepted the result of the referendum even though
0:08:46 > 0:08:49I didn't like it and that's why I voted to trigger Article 50.
0:08:49 > 0:08:5336% of my constituents work in financial and professional services.
0:08:53 > 0:09:00It's important to them to get it right.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Billions of pounds of tax revenue come to our public services,
0:09:02 > 0:09:03from the financial services sector.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07The last thing they want is any heightened risk of a cliff edge.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09We've said time after time, this is not about frustrating Brexit.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12We understand the will of what the people voted last year
0:09:12 > 0:09:15but what this is about is ensuring this country gets a good deal.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17They won't be put off, but with feelings running high,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21the Speaker of the House of Commons today warned that MPs should not be
0:09:21 > 0:09:23subject to threats for expressing a political opinion.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Tim Donovan, BBC London News.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Plans to build a new Westfield shopping centre in Croydon
0:09:29 > 0:09:31have been approved.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Work will begin on the £1.4 billion project in 2019,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39with the promise of 7,000 new jobs and 1,000 new homes.
0:09:39 > 0:09:46The complex will be the third Westfield in the capital.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50That's it for now from me, but let's find out what the weather's up
0:09:50 > 0:09:51to with Chris Fawkes.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Hello, this weather front will be sliding its way eastwards across the
0:09:58 > 0:10:01British Isles. This front is coming our way but it will arrive quite
0:10:01 > 0:10:05late tomorrow afternoon and for much of the day, it will be quite cloudy
0:10:05 > 0:10:10once again. Cloudy skies overnight as well but there could be one or
0:10:10 > 0:10:13two mist and fog patches dotted around and visibility quite poor for
0:10:13 > 0:10:17a short time in one or two areas. A dry night for most but one or two
0:10:17 > 0:10:20spots of rain falling from the cloud with temperatures between eight and
0:10:20 > 0:10:24ten Celsius. Looking at the weather picture on Thursday, a bit
0:10:24 > 0:10:29changeable, cloudy, then sunny, then clouding over again, one of those
0:10:29 > 0:10:32days, we start off with rather murky conditions, a bit of mist over the
0:10:32 > 0:10:35hills and then a better chance of sunshine towards the middle of the
0:10:35 > 0:10:39day before then is cloud over. That is the weak weather front I showed
0:10:39 > 0:10:42you at the start of the bulletin, could bring a few spots of rain to
0:10:42 > 0:10:48London, about 4pm but it won't amount to much and when that front
0:10:48 > 0:10:51is through, by Friday we will see much more in the way of sunshine but
0:10:51 > 0:10:54things turned a bit cooler, temperatures 8 degrees with a
0:10:54 > 0:10:57north-westerly breeze. The weekend not looking too bad, temperatures
0:10:57 > 0:11:00back into double figures and it should be largely dry with some
0:11:00 > 0:11:03spells of sunshine. That is it from the