Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, has unveiled a key pledge to reduce knife crime in the UK should the party be elected to power next month.
Speaking ahead of the July 4 general election, Starmer said he would make reducing knife crime a “moral mission” amid a sharp rise in offences in recent years.
“Knife crime is an issue above and beyond party politics,” he said this week.
“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.”
Alongside actor Idris Elba, a prominent campaigner against knife crime, Starmer laid out his party’s plans to tackle knife crime head on as he spoke to families who had lost loved ones.
Starmer also vowed to chair an annual summit that will work toward halving UK knife crime incidents within the next 10 years.
The police-recorded crime figures, published by Office of National Statistics (ONS) for the year ending June 2023, show 50,833 knife-crime offences. Of those, 14,577 crimes relate to London alone.
So how has knife crime evolved in the UK in recent years?
How has the number of incidents changed over time?
According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, the amount of knife crime offences recorded in England and Wales has risen significantly since around 2013.
Police recorded a total of 26,694 cases involving a knife or sharp instrument between April 2013 and March 2014.
Since then, cases have increased year on year, reaching a peak in Covid before dropping slightly again.
This data covers knife crime related to threats, assaults, robberies, sexual assault, and homicide, which on average had risen around six to seven per cent each year until Covid.
Here are the key figures for knife crime in England and Wales (excluding data from Greater Manchester police):
Apr 2013 to Mar 2014: 26,694
Apr 2014 to Mar 2015: 27,401
Apr 2015 to Mar 2016: 30,927
Apr 2016 to Mar 2017: 37,811
Apr 2017 to Mar 2018: 45,515
Apr 2018 to Mar 2019: 49,342
Apr 2019 to Mar 2020: 51,982
Apr 2020 to Mar 2021: 41,671
Jan 2022 to Dec 2022: 46,153
Jan 2023 to Dec 2023: 49,489
Despite a dip in knife crime around 2020, there has still been a steady rise in post-pandemic incidents.
The rise in knife crime comes despite some government efforts to curb crime rates in recent years, including a recent crackdown on zombie knives.
Just this month, two boys were also named the UK’s youngest knife killers after the 12 year olds fatally stabbed a stranger with a machete in Wolverhampton.
How has this changed in London specifically?
London appears to have a higher amount of knife crime compared to some parts of the country. Other cities and metropolitan areas appear to show a similar trend.
London’s Metropolitan Police recorded 29 per cent of all offences, according to the latest ONS figures.
In the year ending December 2023, there was a 20 per cent increase in offences compared to the year before, totalling 14,577 knife-related crimes.
To put that into perspective, around 10.1 people in every 100,000 London residents were admitted to hospital following an assault with a knife or sharp object between 2022-23.
The reason why London has some of the country’s highest knife crime rates is complicated.
However, leaked documents from the Home Office revealed that the Government believes its own cuts to police funding may have led to an increase in violent crime.
What ages are involved in knife crime?
In recent years, there have been growing concerns around the number of young people involved with knife crime.
But statistics suggest that, again, the picture is a little more complex. While a growing number of young people have been linked to knife crime or have witnessed knife crime, reports show that people of all ages carry knives.
Of the 19,000 cautions and convictions for knife crime in England and Wales, just 18 per cent of cases were related to people aged between 10 and 17.
According to the Ben Kinsella Trust, teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 are also twice as likely to be fatally stabbed than a decade ago.
What initiatives are in place in the capital?
There are a lot of initiatives in London and further afield geared at preventing knife crime across the country.
Idris Elba’s Don’t Stop Your Future campaign is among the most prominent. It works with grassroots organisations to end knife crime and raise awareness of communities most impacted by it.
Lives Not Knives (LNK) is another organisation that works to end youth violence through mentoring and community support.
As for government initiatives, the Home Secretary recently pledged £4m to boost knife crime detection.
