Issue
Knife Crime
Issue Type
Local / Regional
Date
22 January 2025
Yesterday there was a debate held in Westminster on tackling Knife Crime in the West Midlands. I was not able to attend as I was in a Bill Committee session, however my team were monitoring the debate closely.
The West Midlands has the highest rates of knife crime in the country, and in March 2024 it was recorded that the region had seen a 70% rise in knife crime since 2016. The region accounts for 10% of England’s knife crime activity. As a former member of the APPG on Child Criminal Exploitation and Knife Crime, I have long been calling for the adoption of a cohesive, multi-faceted approach to this issue.
I welcomed the contributions of MPs detailing not only the tragic cases of lives lost to knife crime in their constituencies, but also how knife crime affects the wider community – making residents feel unsafe, worsening violence against women and girls, and impeding the success of town centres and high streets. Testimonies also addressed the effect on this epidemic of severe cuts to youth services and police resources.
I was glad to hear from Dame Diana Johnson on the Labour Government’s plans to address this issue. Labour have budgeted £17.4 billion (an increase of £1billion) to police forces in England and Wales. Of this, £800 million will be dedicated to the West Midlands police force (which is an increase of £40 million). Labour have also committed to prioritising and rebuilding neighbourhood policing by delivering more than 13,000 more Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers. Local Officers and PCSOs are the building blocks of tackling crime, and can help to build local community confidence and trust.
Labour have also committed to Violence Reduction Units, through which we will be able to aggregate the intelligence and work of different crime and youth support agencies in order to tackle the drivers of serious crime. Violence Reduction Units will deliver a range of interventions, including supporting high risk young people in Coventry and connecting them with exit pathways from gangs, violence and county lines.
Dame Diana Johnson also discussed the steps Labour are taking to remove dangerous weapons from our streets. In September they ran a surrender and compensation scheme for zombie style knives and machetes, and a ban came into effect on these weapons at the end of that month. Between November and December, the Government ran a consultation seeking views on a legal description of a ninja sword. They also commenced a review into the online sales and delivery of knives in order to identify any gaps in the current legislation that need addressing. Finally, they have run a consultation on introducing personal liability measures on senior executives of online platforms and marketplaces which fail to take action to remove illegal content related to knives and other weapons.
Yours sincerely,
Taiwo Owatemi, MP for Coventry North West.
