Sadiq Khan warns young Londoners are ‘vulnerable to exploitation’ over summer holidays

Transcript

00:00How concerned are you about a rise in violence over the coming summer?

00:03You've said before, you know, the hot weather can encourage anti-social behaviour, violence.

00:08How concerned are you looking ahead over the coming six weeks or so?

00:11Look, the one thing that keeps me up at night time is my concern about safety and violence

00:14is at the core of when it comes to Londoners' safety.

00:18What we do know is during the summer holidays, young people are vulnerable to exploitation

00:24and violence.

00:25We also know, for obvious reasons during the summer holidays, but there's no school, there's

00:29no school buildings, no pupil referral units, no alternative provision.

00:33Young people, you know, idle hands, can get involved in things that aren't safe, that

00:37aren't sensible, that aren't wise.

00:38And that's why we've got to keep young people busy and active, learning life skills at the

00:42same time is a bonus, but actually one of the reasons why I'm keen to invest in summer

00:46activities is I know for my own youth, which is my brothers and I were kept busy because

00:50of schemes like this, playing football, cricket, boxing, going on day trips, they've stopped

00:55happening.

00:56And these sorts of schemes will keep young people busy and engaged and turn them into

01:00good citizens as well, because I'm concerned if young people have deprivation, poverty,

01:05lack of opportunities, alienation, and there's no hope, nothing to keep them busy, then you

01:10can't really be surprised when they get involved in criminality.