She said: "the crime rate has skyrocketed"

BBC says: "Crime has dropped "significantly" by 12%"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1619000/1619107.stm#chart
[note the charts at the bottom]

In her defense, maybe she meant skyrocketing gun-related crimes. If so, there is support for her statement, but the conclusion she draws from it is questionable. Her conclusion being that it is gun control that caused the skyrocket.

The stats seem to show a big jump *this year*:
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/summaries/reader/0,2061,547456,00.html

and:
http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=484328&in_review_text_id=440945

How you can conclude that a law enacted in '97 cause a jump in statistics in 2001/2002 is a mystery to me. On the other hand, maybe there is more to the story than I know, and her assertions make perfect sense. If you have a further bit of knowledge that clarifies this, please pass it on.

I also wanted to check her reference to: "the burgeoning black market in illegal firearms", but sadly, I could find no statistics. It may be that she made it up. Or it's quite possibly my piss-poor research skills!