Tough new legislation to combat knife crime has today been welcomed by Preet Kaur Gill MP, Labour MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston, who has been campaigning for action on knife crime following the death of her 14-year-old constituent, Dea-John Reid, who was stabbed.
In 2021, Dea-John Reid was pursued by a mob of five people and fatally stabbed in Birmingham after going out to play football.
Last month, Gill re-iterated her called for urgent action on knife crime in a Parliamentary debate about Knife Crime in the West Midlands.
The Government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill fulfils multiple Labour manifesto commitments. During the campaign the Party pledged to ‘get knives off our streets’. The Bill introduced this week will give the police new powers to seize, retain and destroy knives held in private, applicable when the police believe the knife will be used in a violent crime.
Labour’s bill comes as statistics show that in the West Midlands Police Force Area, knife crime rose by 118.63% under the Tories.
It also includes strong new rules to prevent online knife sales, including personal liability for senior managers of online platforms who fail to act on illegal content including knives and offensive weapons.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will also introduce a new offence of possession of an offensive weapon with intent to cause harm. It also increases the maximum penalty for offences relating to the sale of offensive weapons.
The Bill will also strengthen age verification requirements for online sale of bladed products. The law will be named after 16-year old Ronan Kanda, stabbed to death in Wolverhampton by a boy who had used his mother’s ID to purchase a 22-inch sword online.
Making Britain’s streets safe is a major plank of this Labour Government’s Plan for Change, and the Government has pledged to half knife crime in a decade.
Preet Kaur Gill, Labour MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston, said:
“I wholeheartedly welcome this tough new action to crack down on knife crime and protect communities like mine in Birmingham, Edgbaston. Too many children's lives are being lost, with families and communities left devastated as a result.
“This government has set an ambitious mission for the country to halve knife crime over the next decade and we will pursue every possible avenue to save young lives. I wholeheartedly welcome this tough new action to crack down on knife crime and I will continue to campaign on this issue for communities like mine in Birmingham.”
“This Government is committed to making Britain’s streets safe again, as part of Labour’s Plan for Change. I stand full square behind these efforts.”
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Notes
• Data for increases in knife crime: Number of knife and sharp instrument offences recorded by the police, for selected offences, by Police Force Area. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/policeforceareadatatables, Tab P5
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