THE historic gap in crime rates between Scotland's two largest cities is narrowing, with Glasgow reporting a drop in offending at the same time as it rose dramatically in Edinburgh.

New figures show that, in the first year that Police Scotland had responsibility for law and order, areas around the eastern Central Belt saw increased crime while it largely fell in the west.

In the capital, there was a 14 per cent increase in offending, the highest rise of any local authority area in Scotland. The next four most significant rises were in the nearby Midlothian, Fife, West Lothian and East Lothian areas.

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, crime fell by four per cent, with larger drops recorded across Ayrshire, Stirling and Dunbartonshire.

Police Scotland said a spate of housebreakings had been a factor behind the rise in crime in the capital, and that an operation set up in response had been a success.

However, the launch of the single force has proved a contentious issue in the capital. A crackdown on the city's sex trade, which had been largely tolerated under the Lothian and Borders force, was met with strong opposition.

The gap in crime rates between Glasgow and Edinburgh - which in the previous two years had been 28 per cent - fell to just 14 per cent last year. In the first year of Police Scotland, there was a 39 per cent increase in housebreaking in Edinburgh, while thefts of motor vehicles rose by 58 per cent compared to the last 12 months of the Lothian and Borders force.

Cameron Rose, an Edinburgh councillor and former police officer, said the new force had been slow to respond to the spikes in offences in the east of Scotland.

"Violent crime has gone down, and that's welcome, but the rises in housebreaking and dishonesty reflects the fact that Police Scotland took their eye off the ball," he said. "That's disappointing and I hope they've learned their lesson."

Chief Superintendent Mark Williams, Police Scotland's Divisional Commander for the City of Edinburgh, insisted that the force had made progress in its priority areas of violent crime, domestic abuse, sexual offences, tackling anti-social behaviour and road safety.

He said: "Robberies fell by 18 per cent and non-sexual violent crime fell by 10 per cent. We cut the number of kids killed on our roads and supported more victims of domestic abuse and sexual crime than ever before.

"Where there were increases in recorded crime we acted swiftly. In December last year, we re-introduced our housebreaking teams through Operation RAC. Within a few months, £463,989 worth of stolen property was recovered and returned to rightful owners. These reductions have been sustained and continue to be delivered.

"Rises in recorded crime were also generated as a result of a more robust approach to domestic abuse. For example, in Edinburgh, the number of common assaults linked to domestic abuse rose by 78 per cent when comparing 2013/14 with 2012/13. This pro-active approach to targeting offenders also led to large increases in bail offences."

Nationwide, crime fell by one per cent compared to the previous year, reaching a 40-year low.

Sexual offences rose by 12 per cent and are now at the highest level since 1971. The Jimmy Savile scandal and the arrests of high-profile figures such as Rolf Harris and Max Clifford are believed to have prompted more victims to report offences.

Crimes of handling an offensive weapon, including knives, are down by five per cent across Scotland, a fall of 62 per cent since 2006/07. The number of murders and culpable homicides dropped from 65 to 61. Following a decrease last year, death by dangerous or careless driving almost doubled, from 19 in 2012/13 to 37 in 2013/14.

Incoming Justice Secretary Michael Matheson described the overall statistics as strong. He added: "We recognise there is still work to do, the figures show an increase in sex crimes last year. Police Scotland have made clear that around half of the increase is due to a rise in historic reporting and may also be down to more victims of current crimes coming forward.

"We want victims to have confidence to report these crimes. The Scottish Government, police and prosecutors take the investigation and prosecution of these traumatic crimes extremely seriously, which is why we have strengthened the law around sex crimes."