Khan branded a coward after refusing TV debate with Farage
The Labour Mayor of London turned down Mr Farage's offer of a head-to-head showdown as it emerged that shoplifting in the capital had risen by more than half in the past year.
It comes after the Reform UK leader launched a 'six-week offensive' of policy announcements with a particular focus on crime and punishment.
Mr Farage told The Telegraph: 'Labour have been in government for over a year.
'Sadiq Khan has nowhere to hide any more – the blame for his record in office lies solely at his feet. He has failed Londoners. London is lawless and London needs Reform.'
However, a spokesman for Sir Sadiq dismissed Mr Farage's offer as a 'political stunt' and claimed the Mayor was 'too busy working for Londoners to get crime down' to take part.
The Reform leader replied: 'It's just extraordinary and cowardly, and everyone knows that London is becoming lawless. What is Khan afraid of? I don't bite.'
A crime survey released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week found shoplifting in London had increased by 53 per cent over the last 12 months to March.
The rise was the steepest of anywhere in the country, while London also accounted for 16,344 knife crime incidents, an annual rise of nine per cent.
London also accounted for a third of all knife offences in England and Wales.
A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: 'The Mayor is too busy working for Londoners to get crime down to get involved in political stunts.
'Nothing's more important to the Mayor than keeping Londoners safe. Sadiq is determined to do all he can to tackle crime and its complex causes, which is why he has invested record sums in the police and in providing positive opportunities for young people.
'Sadiq is building on the progress that's been achieved in London with the number of young people being injured with a knife, homicides, lethal barrel discharge, and burglary all down since 2016.'
The Mayor's office said the number of teenage murders in London was at its lowest rate since 2003, while the number of under-25s killed was at its lowest since 2013.
Sir Sadiq's spokesman added: All this has been achieved despite government austerity since 2010.'
At a press conference last week, Mr Farage pledged to send Britain's worst offenders to jail in El Salvador as part of a five-year plan to halve crime rates.
The £17.4 billion scheme, which also seeks to boost police numbers and prison places, would see the introduction of new rules to increase the number of jail sentences handed down by judges.
The El Salvador idea is based on a similar policy by Donald Trump, who is paying the Latin American country billions of dollars to house offenders.
Sir Sadiq holds direct responsibility for policing in London as the city's mayor and de facto police and crime commissioner.
Under his watch, violent crime has soared from 190,000 incidents in 2016/17, when he first came to power, to 250,000 in 2023/24.
Transport for London's crime and anti-social behaviour report in 2023 showed a total rise in offences of 56.5 per cent.
This included a 158 per cent jump in crimes involving offensive weapons and a 107 per cent rise in robbery.
Sir Sadiq is planning to shut the front counters in 13 of the 32 Metropolitan Police stations that are open 24 hours a day.
He had pledged in his 2024 mayoral election manifesto to 'maintain a 24-hour police front office counter in every borough'.
However, he said he would need to sign off on the closures and claimed government spending plans had left the Met with a £260 million black hole in his budget.
Eleven more of the 32 stations would switch to reduced opening hours, leaving just eight front counters staffed around the clock.
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