A London assembly member says Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and the Metropolitan Police need to “get a grip” following a spate of violent attacks in the capital over the bank holiday weekend.

Steve O’Connell, chairman of the London assembly police and crime committee, hit back at Mr Khan after he blamed central government budget cuts for a rise in violent crimes across London and the UK.

The mayor claims the police service in London is “overstretched” and blamed rising violent crime on the government.

However, Mr O’Connell said that the mayor must take responsibility for serious crime and violence in the capital.

He said: “Ultimately the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor has a responsibility to keep London safe, the mayor cannot simply pass the blame on to central government.

“The mayor and the Metropolitan Police needs to get a grip on this unprecedented level of crime.

“The police and crime committee are here to hold both the mayor and the Metropolitan Police to account.”

Mr Khan said: “The police service in London is overstretched and under resourced- violent crime has been rising across the country since 2014 and the government is failing its basic duty to keep people safe imposing cuts of £1bn on the Met Police which risk sending police levels to historically low levels.”

Mr Khan has said that keeping Londoners safe is his top priority, adding: “I refuse to accept that nothing can be done to stem the appalling rise of violent crime we are seeing across the country. Together with the police, community groups, victims and their families and Londoners, City Hall would continue to work ceaselessly to tackle violent crime.”

A number of violent crimes took place in the capital over this bank holiday weekend including the shootings of two teenagers in Harrow and on Saturday and another teenager in Kennington.