Britney Spears is refusing to apologise or back down after London council members accused her of promoting gun crime in her newly shot video for 'Criminal'. 

The visuals for the single, which were filmed in Stoke Newington, sees Spears holding up a store at gunpoint before running off with her boyfriend Jason Trawick and caused a backlash from the area's political figureheads. 

A statement has now been released from Spears' management team to MTV News, which reads:

"The video is a fantasy story featuring Britney's boyfriend, Jason Trawick, which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened."

Check out the audio for her forthcoming single, 'Criminal', here: