The Home Office spent £57,000 on those anti-knife crime chicken boxes

Remember those chicken boxes the Home Office used to try and fight knife crime? They cost over £57,000.

The overall cost of the boxes was £57,499.10, working out at an average of around 18p per box.

When the boxes were unveiled in August, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott called the campaign "crude, offensive and probably expensive."

The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, also show the money came from a total £1,000,000 budget for the summer #knifefree campaign.

Labour MP David Lammy called the boxes, distributed to Morley's, Chicken Cottage, and Dixy Chicken branches across the country, "either explicitly racist or, at best, unfathomably stupid."

The Home Office were at pains to point out the boxes were for burgers, as well as chicken.

Home Secretary Priti Patel accused Lammy of “playing politics with knife crime”.

The Home Office also said: "This activity was part of our wider #knifefree campaign which also included outdoor posters in priority areas, advertising on social media, radio and digital, in addition to street teams distributing materials in local communities."

"Government policies and programmes affect the lives of millions of people and in order for them to work, they must be communicated effectively to engage the public and effect positive behaviour change. However, this has to be done with cost efficiency in mind and there are strict rules to ensure value for money on Government advertising."