Since 2013, knife crime has been increasing in every area of the country.  As we emerge from lockdown, we are once again seeing young people being killed and seriously injured on our streets. I have been contacted by many families tragically affected by knife crime and know how anxious many of my constituents are to keep our young people safe this summer. There is fantastic work being done by local organisations, our local councils and the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit to support young people but we need this to be supported by an effective plan and resources from national government.

The government’s Serious Violence Taskforce was set up in 2018 to bring together Ministers, experts and young people to develop a long term strategy to end serious violence and knife crime. The Taskforce has not met since 2019 and the Government refuses to explain why its important work has been abandoned. Instead we have seen paltry, piecemeal funding announcements which just aren’t enough to address the root causes of violence. Earlier this week, I called on the Minister to explain why the Taskforce has been disbanded and to take the action needed to stop knife crime >>