Theresa May has fought for her political life this week. After at least 48 of her own MPs submitted letters of no confidence in her, on Wednesday the PM was forced to face a secret ballot where Tory MPs declared whether they backed her leadership.
After a nail-biting day for the May and her team, it was revealed last night that she had survived, with 200 MPs offering her their support.
It came just days after the prime minister controversially decided to shelve parliament’s meaningful vote on her Brexit deal, admitting that she would currently lose the vote.
But a series of statistics released on Thursday revealed that the PM has far more than just Brexit or her premiership to worry about.
HuffPost UK takes a look at what could be sat at the top of May’s inbox in the new year.
Knife-Carrying On The Rise
The number of criminals caught with knives or dangerous weapons is at its highest level this decade, new figures from the Ministry of Justice revealed this morning.
The criminal justice system in England and Wales dealt with 21,381 knife and offensive weapon offences in the 12 months leading up to September - the highest number since 2010.
In one in five cases, offences were not yet 18-years-old, the figures showed.
The data comes a day after homicides also reached a near 10-year peak, with 125 violent deaths recorded in the capital in 2018.
However, according to Thursday’s report, offenders are now more likely to end up in prison over knife offences, with 36% receiving “immediate custodial sentences”.
Black People More Likely To Experience Police Force
But it’s not just knife crime that the PM needs to worry about when it comes to policing.
Black people are disproportionately likely to have force used against them by the police - especially firearms and Tasers - according to the first national statistics on the issue.
Despite accounting for just 3.3% of the population, black people in England and Wales experienced 12% of incidents involving force in 2017/18, Home Office figures revealed.
Police ‘force’ can range from putting handcuffs on a suspect to using a firearm.
Black people were involved in proportionately more incidents which involved police use of firearms, at 26%. For less lethal weapons, including Tasers, 20% of subjects were black.
White people, who account for 86% of the population, experienced 73% of use-of-force incidents. They were also proportionately less likely to be subjected to use of firearms, at 51%, or Tasers, at 67%.
120,000 Children Living In Temporary Accommodation
Campaigners have also called for homelessness to be at the top of May’s agenda for 2019 after official statistics published on Thursday showed that more than 120,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.
More than 82,000 households were living in temporary homes at the end of June 2018, government data revealed - an increase of 71% since December 2010.
It also represents a jump of 5% on last year’s figures.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said that councils were “struggling to cope with rising homelessness”.
“The increasing use of temporary accommodation is not only financially unsustainable for councils but it is hugely disruptive for those families placed in such accommodation,” they said.
“Every instance of homelessness is an individual tragedy and councils are determined to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place and support families affected.”
12 Hour Waits For A&E Care
In what medics are likely to see as a worrying foreshadow of an NHS winter crisis, it emerged today that more than 250 people were forced to wait 12 hours or more at A&E in November.
Meanwhile, more than 54,000 people had to wait more than four hours, meaning just 87.6% of patients were seen within the target time - the lowest proportion since March.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called the figures “hugely concerning”, adding that they “don’t bode well for the difficult months ahead”.
An NHS spokesman said: “NHS staff continue to work hard to deal with increased demand across the board, seeing 1,000 more people within four hours in A&E every day in November compared to last year.
Kids Referred To Anti-Terror Scheme
In the year to March, 2,009 under-15s were referred to the Government’s Prevent programme, including 297 girls.
In total there were 7,318 referrals to Prevent in 2017/18 – up by 20% on 2016/17.
The Home Office statistics also revealed a jump of more than a third in the number of referrals sparked by concerns about right-wing extremism.