UITE how much confidence the public can have in the Government’s latest crime figures is impossible to fathom following the farcical way in which they were reported yesterday.

The new figures showed worrying increases in the levels of violent crime – or at least we think they did.

The Government claims the figures cannot be compared with last year because it has changed the way in which crime is categorised. Meanwhile, it was revealed that 13 forces across England and Wales (thankfully West Mercia is not among them) have been under-recording serious violent crime for up to 10 years.

For some years successive Home Secretaries have said crime is falling and that violent crime, in particular, was not as widespread as it seemed. The media, more often than not, got it in the neck for its reporting of such crime. Now we get figures for the three months to the end of June that show a 22 per cent increase in serious violent crime, a 28 per cent increase in attempted murders involving a knife, and a 29 per cent increase in assaults causing grievous bodily harm compared with the same period last year.

Yet we’re told these are “apparent increases” because of “counting amendments”.

How does the Government expect people to have faith in these figures given all of this? It is now almost impossible to judge crime levels in this country – and in particular the violent types that most people fear.

It’s a mess and we struggle to see quite how the Government will restore public confidence.