MP, Labour’s Shadow Home
Secretary, responding to new government figures today
that show an increase in knife crime, knife possession and
shoplifting said:
“This disturbing further increase in knife crime in the last year
shows how badly the Tories are failing on law and order and means
that knife crime is now 77 per cent higher than in 2015, with a
devastating impact on young people, families and communities.
Serious violence is rising with gun crime also increasing, yet
the government just isn’t getting a grip.
"At the same time shoplifting has soared by 32 per cent in the
last year alone, as criminals run rife in our town centres, and
the number of cases dropped because no suspect was identified has
reached record highs.
"Enough is enough. Britain cannot afford more of this damaging
decline from the Conservatives. Labour will restore the rule of
law on Britain’s streets and in our town centres, and take urgent
action to keep our young people safe from knife crime.”
Ends
Notes:
- New crime statistics and crime outcome statistics were
published by the ONS and Home Office respectively today:
-
- Total knife crime has risen from 27,498 in 2015 to 48,716 in
the last year:
-
- The total number of police cases closed as ‘Investigation
complete – no suspect identified’ has risen to 2,322,366, up from
2,136,930 the year before:
-
To tackle the Tories’ shoplifting charter, Labour in
government will:
- Reverse the Tories’ decision to downgrade the response to
shoplifting under £200, making it easier to take action against
repeat offenders and ending the farce of offending
impunity.
- Create a new specific offence of assault against retail
workers.
- Boost town centre police patrols with named police officers
to crack down on shoplifting and attacks on those working in
retail as part of our Community Policing Guarantee.
- Put 13,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the beat in
communities and our shopping districts to tackle the people
spreading fear through our town centres.
The Conservatives’ announcement on knife crime today will
allow dangerous knives to remain on our streets:
Labour will implement a total crackdown on the
availability of knives on Britain’s streets:
- We will urgently act to toughen up the government’s proposed
ban to include a wider range of weapons, and toughen existing
rules on serration and centimetre length.
- Labour would establish criminal sanctions for tech
executives who fail to prevent their online marketplaces from
being used to enable illegal knife sales.
- Labour would launch a rapid end-to-end review on online
knife selling to toughen up ID requirements and crack down on
unlawful supply of knives to under-18s.
- Labour’s mission in government will be to take back our
streets and halve the incidents of knife crime within a decade:
https://labour.org.uk/missions/safe-streets/
- As part of this mission, the party has set out plans for a
major new youth programme – Young Futures – to help prevent
violent crime. Echoing the last Labour government’s
transformative prevention programme, SureStart, and building on
Starmer’s pledge to reform the delivery of public services, Young
Futures will require coordination of local services to identify
the young people most at risk of knife crime and prevent them
ever picking up a knife.
Further details on the Young Futures programme:
Labour’s new Young Futures programme will draw on up to £100
million a year, based on combining existing commitments to fund
youth hubs with mental health staff and youth workers in every
community paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools, and
mentors in pupil referral units and youth workers in A&E paid
for by full cost recovery for gun licensing, and a programme of
public sector reform to deliver:
- A targeted programme in every area to identify the young
people most at risk of being drawn into violent crime and build a
package of support that responds to the challenges they are
facing.
- This will be achieved through bringing together services at a
local level to better coordinate delivery of preventative
interventions around the young person, rooted in a strong
evidence base.
- Develop a national network of Young Futures hubs, to bring
local services together, deliver support for teenager at risk of
being drawn into crime or facing mental health challenges and,
where appropriate, deliver universal youth provision.
- Youth workers in A&E units, custody centres, and
communities, and mentors in pupil referral units to target young
people who are starting to be drawn into violence.
Further details on the tough consequences for carrying a
knife:
A Labour government will end the empty warnings and apology
letters for knife possession, guaranteeing sanctions and serious
interventions for young people carrying knives:
- Every offender must be referred to a Youth Offending Team and
have a mandatory, bespoke action plan to prevent
reoffending.
- Tough new guidance so that serious penalties are always
considered where appropriate, such as curfews, tagging, or
behavioural contracts.
Further details on tough new laws to restrict the sale of
knives:
- A Labour government will implement
a total crackdown on the availability of knives on Britain’s
streets - no more loopholes, no more caveats, no more false
promises.
- The Government has published 16
press releases about zombie knives since 2015, yet despite
repeated promises to toughen the rules, a full ban is still not
in place.
- Urgently legislate to ban zombie-style knives and toughen up
the government’s promised ban to include a wider range of
weapons, and toughen existing rules on serration and centimetre
length.
- Introduce tough criminal sanctions on tech executives who
allow knife sales on their online marketplaces, such as Amazon
Marketplace, eBay and Instagram.
- Conduct a rapid review of online knife sales from the point
of purchase through to delivery, in particular to strengthen ID
checks, and checks conducted by Royal Mail and Border Force for
UK-bound parcels.
