Government holds anti-knife crime summit
Campaigners from the West Country were invited to take part
Sir Keir Starmer has promised action to tackle the online sale of deadly weapons as he hosted a summit with knife crime campaigners, including from the West Country.
The Prime Minister promised to "double down" on commitments made before the general election on tackling knife violence.
Actor Idris Elba who was present at the event, told the summit, "talk is good, but action is important" and said he hoped the work done by a coalition of organisations and campaigners could prevent younger generations being involved in knife crime.
Sir Keir said: "Far too many knives are too easily available, whether that's online, whether that's through the post."
There are examples of knives "bought online being posted through without any markings, and then people picking them up without any identification, and then those knives being used".
It is "just too shocking - that needs to be dealt with", he said.
Sir Keir suggested ministers will look at the punishments for those caught with knives.
The Prime Minister told the knife crime summit in Downing Street: "We also need to deal with the sanctions for those that are found with knives."
But there is also a need to "try to reach into the lives of young people who may be going off the tracks and trying to bring them back before they do so".
Pooja Kanda, whose son Ronan was murdered in 2022 with a zombie knife bought online, told the No 10 summit she was "horrified, absolutely horrified" by what was available to her son's killer.
"It was as easy as picking up a loaf of bread from a supermarket," she said.
Calling for action, she said: "I'm not a policy expert in reducing crime. I'm a grieving mother.
"But I will do all I can to ensure that the failings that led to my son's murder are corrected."
She added: "It blows my mind at how easy it is to purchase these weapons and have them delivered to your door with absolutely no checks or accountability held."
Elba, who met Sir Keir during the election campaign to push for action on knife crime, said it was important there was a coalition of interests involved in the first summit, which is expected to become an annual event.
He said: "We needed joined-up thinking, we needed so many different perspectives: parents' perspectives, youth workers' perspectives, charity organisations, governance, policing.
"We need all of these perspectives to sit around the table when you think about this.
"We aren't going to end knife crime. We can't, that's not realistic.
"But we can tackle the attributes towards it. At the centre of it is obviously young people - my son's 10, and I'm hoping the work that we do annually, keep pushing, (can) help him by the time he's 16.
"There are kids right now that are 16 to 24, they're in that cycle right now that we might not be able to help, but with our joined-up thinking we can help future generations."
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood were at the Downing Street meeting and the new coalition to tackle knife crime will also include technology companies, sport organisations and representatives from the police and the NHS.
The issue in the West Country
Hits Radio has covered the issue of knife crime extensively over the past many months.
In March we revealed the number of people killed by knives across Avon and Somerset in 2023 was up more than double, compared to the year before. That same month we brought you the story of a person living within a knife crime hotspot who said they fear for their safety and in May we revealed our charity Cash for Kids was funding the installation of bleed control kits on streets across Bristol.
That all came in the context of several tragedies including the deaths of Max Dixon and Mason Rist in Knowle West, Darrian Williams in Easton, Eddie Kinuthia in St Pauls and Mikey Roynon in Bath, to name just a few.
WATCH: Our extended video report on knife crime in the West Country
In April while Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper came to Bristol and held a meeting with several anti knife crime campaigners at Hungerford Community Centre, where she asked what a Labour government would have to do to improve things.
Others in attendance included Leanne Reynolds who campaigns to get bleed control kits installed across the West Country, Hari Tyler from Bristol Drugs Project and Martin Bisp who runs boxing gym turned youth club Empire Fighting Chance.
Issues discussed included a lack of funding for youth projects, failures in the education system leading to too many children being excluded and not enough support for young people in the criminal justice system.
At the time Martin told Hits Radio: "I think it's important (having a meeting like this).
"We've lost the community feeding into decision making, so any chance organisations like us have to help shape the way that we think about knife crime or violence reduction is extremely important."
Martin said there are a number of reasons why the issue is getting worse.
"It can be fed by domestic abuse, it can be fed by school exclusions, it can be fed by inequality, the biggest driver really is inequality.
"I guess we've been in a position where we've had austerity policies, we've had the Covid pandemic and then we went into a cost of living crisis so I think you've had probably the Holy Trinity of problems that's led us to a position where actually life is quite tough for a lot of people."
He feels at least part of the solution is to invest heavily in local communities.
"My friend...he uses the word 'proximity, proximity, proximity'. If it's not local and we've not invested in communities then how can we expect to make a difference," he said.