Keir Starmer makes election promise to halve knife crime

Keir Starmer will vow to halve knife crime within a decade as he warned that action “cannot wait” to end the scourge of stabbings on Britain’s streets.

The Labour leader will make cutting knife crime a “moral mission” if he wins next week’s General Election and pledge the strongest action in a generation to stamp it out. Families of victims and survivors of knife crime will be called in to shape Labour’s plans, joining online retailers, politicians and community groups in a push to drive down crimes.

Police recorded nearly 50,000 knife offences in the year to December 2023 in England and Wales, a rise of 7% on the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Alarming figures show the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp incident rocketed by 20% over this period.

Crimes involving knives are 3% lower than the pre-pandemic total of 51,206 offences in the year to March 2020. But it comes after a decade of rising violence, with knife offending up 81% since 2015.

There were 244 killings in England and Wales in the year to March 2023, with 78 victims aged below 25. Ten were under 16.

Alarm has been mounting in the wake of a series of high-profile stabbings, including the conviction of two 12-year-old boys for the murder of Shawn Seesahai in a machete attack in the West Midlands.

Mr Starmer said: “Knife crime is an issue above and beyond party politics. For the parents grieving sons and daughters who never came home, action to end this scourge cannot wait.

“Far too often we hear the same stories from grieving families who have been subject to these brutal murders carried out by children. It is our duty as political leaders of all stripes to work together to end knife crime and keep our young people safe.

“Cutting knife crime will be a moral mission for the next Labour government. Our new cross-government coalition will put knife crime victims and their families at the heart of government, working with us to take the strongest action in a generation to end this tragic crime.”

Labour has vowed to carry out an urgent review into sales of killer knives online and to crack down on weapons like machetes and ninja swords. The Tories had long promised to ban zombie knives and machetes but the Criminal Justice Bill failed to become law before Parliament was dissolved for the election.

Rishi Sunak has promised to reintroduce the Bill if he wins but campaigners have argued the legislation was full of loopholes, such as failing to include Samurai and ninja swords among prohibited weapons.

The weapons were used to take the young lives of Ronan Kanda, 16, outside his Wolverhampton home, in June 2022, and Daniel Anjorin, 14, in Hainault, North East London, in April.

Under Labour’s plans, young people caught with knives would be slapped with sanctions like curfews, tagging or behavioural contracts, and schools and parents would be pressed to intervene.

Labour would ensure young people most at risk are offered tailored support through a Young Futures programme to get them away from harm. It would also create a new offence of child criminal exploitation.

Mr Starmer has pledged to chair an annual knife crime summit to track progress in meeting his promise to halve knife crime incidents within a decade.

The Mirror has been campaigning to end the knife crime epidemic. Our key demands include tougher powers for police, reversing Tory cuts to youth services and greater action in schools.