Keir Starmer and Idris Elba launch project to tackle knife crime ‘national crisis’

Keir Starmer will host the actor and campaigner Idris Elba along with police, officials and charities on Monday to launch a project intended to tackle knife crime among young people.

Officially titled the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, the organisation will involve campaign groups, young people and community leaders, and the families of people affected by knife crime.

It will also bring in technology companies, organisations from the sports world, police, educators and service staff, according to a Home Office announcement.

While there are as yet no policy commitments connected to the initiative, beyond an already-promised ban on the sale of so-called zombie knives, the Home Office and No 10 will be hoping to create momentum in taking action over the issue.

The announcement said the group will seek to generate evidence about the factors behind knife crime, particularly those involving young people, with the aim of better shaping government policy.

In the year to March 2023, there were more than 50,000 offences recorded in England and Wales involving a knife or other sharp instrument, 4.7% higher than the previous year but 7% down on the 2019-20 statistic.

Knives or other sharp implements like broken bottles were involved in 400 homicides that took place in 2021-22. While much of the focus on knife crime centres on London, statistics show that West Midlands and Cleveland saw higher per capita rates of the offence.

Starmer said: “As director of public prosecutions, I saw first-hand the devastating impact that knife crime has on young people and their families. This is a national crisis that we will tackle head on.

“We will take this moment to come together as a country – politicians, families of victims, young people themselves, community leaders and tech companies – to halve knife crime and take back our streets.”

Elba said: “We need to tackle the root causes of knife crime, not just the symptoms. The coalition is a positive step toward rehabilitating our communities from the inside out.”

One of the key pieces of early work will be focused on making knives less easy to obtain, especially via the internet.

Cmdr Stephen Clayman, the national policing lead for knife crime, is leading a review into how knives are sold to under-18s online and how this could be stopped and will report to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, by the end of the year.