The government has no excuse: it must act now to end knife crime

Editorial: It has taken the intervention of an A-list celebrity for our B-list politicians to get on with eradicating Britain’s frightening knife-carrying culture. The time for the Home Office to act is now

British actor Idris Elba launches a new campaign against knife crime (AFP via Getty)

Given the number of painful human tragedies that result from knife crime, not to mention the level of real public concern, it is somewhat surprising, to say the least, that the government has yet to tighten up the law on the sale of machetes and so-called zombie knives. These measures were first announced by Suella Braverman approaching a year ago – and then effectively reannounced, as was the former home secretary’s way, at the Conservative Party conference in October.

Given, also, that new regulations to make it more difficult to purchase such knives online – a loophole left open for too long – could be passed in the space of a day, with guaranteed opposition support, there seems no good reason why ministers should not somehow extract this aspect of the current and contentious Criminal Justice Bill and transpose it into some more streamlined parliamentary process, whereby it could be introduced into law with cross-party backing.

With each week that passes, young people in particular are being maimed, mutilated and murdered – an intolerable state of affairs that demands instant action. Such intimidating and lethal weapons have no place in the hands of anyone on the streets, let alone children in parks and playgrounds.

Once again, it has taken the intervention of an A-list celebrity to tell our frankly B-list politicians to get on with it and do the right thing. This time it is the turn of Idris Elba. The actor and musician, who enjoys the kind of respect that the Sunak cabinet must dream of, says that changes to the law that would introduce a blanket ban on these knives – which are capable of inflicting life-changing injuries – need to be fast-tracked. He is right – indeed, overly polite – to say that the Home Office is not affording the matter “the focus it deserves”.

Elba – who played the feuding underworld boss Stringer Bell in The Wire – is also releasing a single, “Knives Down”, in support of his Don’t Stop Your Future campaign – its message aimed more at the government, for what he perceives to be its inaction on knife crime, that at the young people carrying these weapons. The home secretary, James Cleverly, would be wise to treat Elba’s imprecations with respect, and to shift with uncustomary alacrity.

It will not, however, be enough. In many ways, knife crime is not so much a phenomenon in itself, so to speak, but a symptom of other, more societal diseases. It is obviously linked to gang culture – the neighbourhood rivalries that can mimic the kind seen in America’s toughest neighbourhoods – but it also affects younger children in looser association. Some carry a blade simply because they fear they will be attacked, and wrongly believe it will allow them to defend themselves or could act as a deterrent.

Knife crime is often closely linked to the “county lines” trade in drugs, and to other criminal activity. And while the prevalence of this sort of offence is proportionately higher in London than elsewhere, it is not confined to any area – or, indeed, to any particular ethnicity. As much as anything, as is so often the case with crime, it is most common in poorer communities; in places that are “left behind”, where the decimation of both neighbourhood policing and youth services over the past decade or so has created conditions that have allowed a culture of knife-carrying and use gradually to flourish in the most insidious fashion.

Tougher laws, more proactive policing (though not necessarily the disproportionate use of stop and search), better intelligence, and “joined-up” work between schools, police and social services can all help. The criminal justice approach has its place – and the deliberate, conscious use of knives to harm is a serious offence and should remain so. Yet there is always room for innovation, and there still has not been sufficient experimentation with pursuing a “public health” approach to knife crime and its underlying drivers.

It is an alternative methodology that seems to have met with some success in Scotland in recent years. It makes sense to identify young people who are likely to become “infected” and to find ways of diverting them into healthier lifestyles. This requires dedicated and persistent action by schools, police, health services, social services, and voluntary sector groups – who are working against the odds, and too often with inadequate resources in comparison to the gangs, who are armed also with the power of intimidation.

But there is no reason why the criminals should win – nor why more families should have to grieve for their lost children.