Of Britain's ten most populous cities Bradford is seen as the most dangerous – and Edinburgh is thought of as the safest
In 2012 there were 1.67 homicides per 100,000 people in London, and 2.7 in Glasgow, compared to a UK-wide rate of 1. In this light British cities look dangerous, but the UK has steadily become more peaceful. UK homicides per 100,000 have fallen from 1.99 in 2003; in Glasgow, homicide rates are down 40%.
New YouGov research asks British people how safe or unsafe they think Britain’s ten most populous cities are, and in all but two cases they tend to find them safe.
Bradford is perhaps best remembered to outsiders for 2001’s race riots, lasting 3 days and leading to hundreds of arrests. It is the only city mentioned in the poll where more people (42%) say it is unsafe than safe (35%). Britain's second most dangerous city according to the public is Birmingham: people are divided 41-41% on its safety.
Edinburgh, well known for the world’s largest arts festival, The Fringe, is considered the safest place in Britain, with 68% saying it is safe and only 14% saying it is unsafe.
Bristol and Sheffield are also seen as safe by fairly large margins: 57-19% and 50-25% respectively.
London is actually considered safe by the majority of British people (53%), and Londoners themselves are particularly assured of its safety (75%). However a significant minority (39%) do see it as unsafe, giving it its ranking at sixth place.
In 2010, the use of “stop and search” was almost four times higher in Scotland than in England and Wales. Although Glasgow is notoriously impoverished, and it does not have the same appeal in terms of safety as Edinburgh, contrary to its crime statistics in perception it does not fare the worst. 44% see it as safe compared to 38% who see it as unsafe.
Image: PA
