Keir Starmer vows bold action against knife crime epidemic

London (Parliament News) – Keir Starmer pledges aggressive action against knife crime, meeting victims’ families and actor Idris Elba to discuss urgent solutions, promising swift measures including banning online sales of knives if elected.

What did Keir Starmer promise victims’ families and campaigners?

Keir Starmer has pledged to make tackling knife crime a “moral mission” at a passionate meeting with victims’ families and the actor Idris Elba. The Labour leader declared he would take the “strongest action in a generation” if elected and informed campaigners to hold him to account for his improvement within six months.

At the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith, west London, Starmer assembled the families of victims including Ronan Kanda, who was pierced to death aged 16 in 2022 in Wolverhampton, and Dwayne Simpson, who was 20 when he was pierced to death on the street in Brixton in 2014.

Why did Keir Starmer meet with Idris Elba?

Elba, who established a campaign to tackle knife crime earlier this year, met Starmer one-to-one before they discussed with the victims’ families. The actor stated the young people he had spoken to in his profession put forward their solutions to reduce knife crime. “They’re smart, you ask them. I’ve had difficult conversations, like ‘Idris, you’re telling people to put away our knives, but what am I going to hold?’ “And I feel like I don’t know what to say to them because they’re holding these out of fear. But they have solutions. Some of them say, listen, if there were tougher sentences, they’d be like, not sure if I want to go to jail for that.”

Speaking regarding obtaining knives through the post, he stated: “Some are stating that there are numerous loopholes – even if you banned it at the Post Office, I could just go and get somebody else’s ID and do it. “They know all the loopholes, so let’s just utilise your creative minds and go, OK, let’s find ways to help.”

How will Keir Starmer address loopholes in knife sales?

Speaking to the families, Starmer stated he had told campaigners to reach him and hold him to account for his improvement within three to six months if he becomes prime minister. Questioned what could be done in that timeframe he notified reporters: “Well, I think that there are some things we can do very quickly. This question of banning the online sale of knives should have been done years ago.”

What immediate actions will Keir Starmer take if elected?

The Labour leader promised to stop the online sale of zombie blades “straight away” and criticised ministers for failing to do so despite reiterated promises. “The government has announced 16 times that they’re going to ban the online sale of zombie knives … Knife crime now is up 81% since 2015. “We will not fail on this issue. There are other measures, one of the relatives here – their son was killed by a knife that was sent through the post by a shop, called online in ordinary packaging and picked up by a 15-year-old who didn’t need to show any label.

“It’s not rocket science. I will stop that straight away and I think it’s so absurd that that can even happen,” he stated.