Robert Jenrick has taken the law into his own hands by challenging Tube fare dodgers in a social media video criticising London mayor Sadiq Khan.

The Conservative shadow justice secretary posted a video of himself challenging people walking through the barriers without paying at Stratford station in Newham, east London.

Newham is the third most deprived local authority area in the capital, according to the latest census data.

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However, Mr Jenrick said one in 25 people using London’s public transport are not paying for it, and accused Mr Khan of “driving a proud city into the ground”.

“Lawbreaking is out of control. He’s not acting. So, I did,” Mr Jenrick said in the caption.

Mr Jenrick could be seen approaching people slipping through the barriers and asking them if they think “it is alright not to pay”.

He was met with indignation, with one man telling him to “f*** off” and another saying: “I’m warning you now, move!”

Mr Jenrick asked one man if he said he was carrying a knife.

The Conservative MP said there were eight enforcement officers nearby but people were going through an open barrier without paying.

At one point, he could be seen bringing one of the fare dodgers to a group of British Transport Police officers who took the man aside for questioning.

Mr Jenrick said it is “the same with bike theft, phone theft, tool theft, shoplifting, drugs in town centres, weird Turkish barber shops”.

“It’s all chipping away at society,” he said.

“The state needs to reassert itself and go after lawbreakers.”

Another Jenrick video to boost his profile

Rob Powell

Political correspondent

@robpowellnews

This is the latest video from Robert Jenrick that’s trying to tap into the well-documented frustrations many have in the country that low-level crime is eroding away at civil society.

Being tough on crime is not an unusual stance for any politician to adopt, but what’s a bit different about this approach is the shadow justice secretary is packaging up the message in a slick and provocative format that’s explicitly designed for social media.

It has the effect of appealing to supporters whilst also enraging critics, giving the end result of boosting its prominence online and boosting the profile of this ambitious frontbencher too.

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A British Transport Police spokesman said: “Ticket fraud is not a victimless crime – the cost is passed down to the honest fare-paying members of the travelling public.

“We are committed to working closely alongside the railway industry to tackle fare evasion and regularly support them with high visibility patrols at known hotspot locations.”

Fare evasion costs Transport for London (TfL) £130m a year, with YouGov finding 79% of passengers saying they have personally seen fare dodging.

In April, the mayor announced a new fare evasion strategy involving expanding TfL’s team of more than 500 uniformed officers already deployed across the network to deal with fare evasion and other anti-social behaviour.

Sir Keir Starmer has said his government “will look at” scrapping the two-child benefits limit.

In his strongest hint yet that he will perform a U-turn – when asked if he would scrap the two-child benefit cap, Sir Keir said: “We’ll look at all options of driving down child poverty.”

The cap means families can only claim child tax credit and universal credit for their first two children, if they were born after April 2017.

It was introduced in 2017 by the Conservative government, and in 2023, Sir Keir ruled out scrapping it.

However, as Labour came to power last year, he said the party wanted to remove the cap but only when fiscal conditions allowed.

But he then doubled down on refusing to lift it, suspending seven Labour MPs shortly after the election victory for voting with the SNP to remove the cap.

Ministers had toed the party line for months, but the narrative started to shift in May, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson telling Sky News on Tuesday lifting the cap is “not off the table” – and “it’s certainly something that we’re considering”.

Sir Keir was also reported to have asked the Treasury to see how scrapping it could be funded.

His words on Thursday are his strongest indication yet, that he could lift the cap soon.

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It would mean a second benefits U-turn after he made a shock announcement last week that he was going to relax the winter fuel payment cut.

The policy, announced soon after Labour won the election, has caused anger among Sir Keir’s own MPs as it restricted the previously universal payment to those who receive pension credit.

It will now be available to “more pensioners”, but details of who and when have not been revealed.