A COUNCILLOR has warned that cuts to youth services must be reversed to prevent a spike in crime.

Peter McDonald blamed a national increase in youth crime on austerity - and said 'alarm bells should be ringing' in Worcestershire.

The country has been rocked by a spate of young stabbings in recent weeks, although knife crime in Worcester actually fell from 106 offences, in the year ending September 2017, to 87 crimes in the year ending October 2018.

Knife crime in West Mercia also dropped from 477 offences, in 2017, to 448 crimes in 2018.

Mr McDonald, the former leader of the county council's Labour Group, said: "A recent survey of youth workers across the UK by Unison, has found that 83 per cent of respondents said cuts to services had led to increased local crime and anti-social behaviour around stations, shops and parks.

"You did not need to be expert in this area to predict that if you closed down youth centres you would be throwing young people onto the streets and there would be consequences.

"The very fact that youth centres were funded by the local authorities in the first place was to get young people of the streets and help young people gain self-confidence and self-esteem and away from criminal activities.

"The county council has been relentless it closing down youth centres as well as libraries and children services.

"The alarm bells are ringing all around us, it's time the county council knocked on the door of Number 10 Downing Street and got more money for Worcestershire."

Mr McDonald said that the local youth centres which are still open have been 'depleted' by cuts.

Worcestershire County Council was unavailable for comment.