Home Secretary Amber Rudd's new strategy to end ‘disaster’ of knife killings

Home Secretary Amber Rudd today called for “a different approach” to tackling knife crime as she expressed dismay at the “terrible” toll of young lives being lost.

She said diversion and early intervention would be the main focus of a new strategy for combating serious violence that she will unveil later this year.

Ms Rudd added that “engaging” with young people and providing “incentives” that would prevent them from being drawn into crime was the best long-term solution to the problem.

But she also emphasised that tough enforcement — including stop-and-search and laws to make it harder to obtain knives — was needed and attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other Labour politicians for suggesting that the answer was “all about money”.

The Home Secretary said that the Met had “the resources it needs” and that it was “typical” and wrong of her political opponents to have only “one response” when the key was to find new ways of persuading young people not to pick up knives in the first place. Ms Rudd’s comments came as the latest phase of the Met’s Operation Sceptre, which seeks to combat knife crime, ended with the seizure of more than 250 blades and a similar number of arrests.

The items seized included cleavers, kitchen knives and other blades after a week-long crackdown which included the use of stop-and-search, knife arch checks and weapon sweeps.

The police purge follows the deaths of 20 London teenagers in stabbings last year and the death of five more this year. Overall knife crime has also risen significantly. Mr Khan has responded by accusing the Government of fuelling the problem through inadequate police funding and cuts to youth services.

But Ms Rudd said that while each death was “an absolute disaster and tragedy”, it was more important to help “communities engage more with their young people” and to use “early intervention” to encourage youngsters to make better choices.

“We know that young people are increasingly carrying knives and I want to find out why that is and what we can do to turn them away from that,” she said.

“We need a different approach in terms of incentives for them, engaging with them, and the old systems don’t always work. Resources have their part, but the really interesting way to approach it is to get in early on intervention, to be bold about what are we doing wrong, what are we doing right, and to invest more in what we are doing right.

“The core of the serious violence strategy that we are bringing forward is making sure we do more at the early stage with young people to stop them picking up knives in the first place.

“I’m very struck when we have a knife death, and every one is a terrible tragedy, that you often have the parents of a family that have lost somebody, they don’t tend to say it’s about police resources.

“They say it’s about the communities needing to engage more with their young people, making them aware they have choices and encouraging them not to carry knives.”

Ms Rudd was speaking during a visit to the charity Leap Confronting Conflict, which works to give vulnerable young Londoners the confidence to avoid being drawn into knife crime or other offending. Several youngsters told her that the sessions they attended, which include discussions on how to respond at “red flag” moments, were helping them deal with conflict and lead positive lives. Some participants have also attended a residential course outside London.

Ms Rudd said that such “incentives” would be central to her new strategy and added: “It’s about making sure young people have choices — about realising that they can make a way in life and not just flop back on the negative.

“Turning lives around and making people feel valued is exactly how you are going to get them to make those good choices. That is not only a good investment for the individual, it’s also a good investment for society and for the economy because that person will have a fruitful life.”

On the Mayor’s attacks over funding, Ms Rudd hit back. “It’s absolutely typical of the Labour Party to only have one response which is it’s all about money,” she said.

“It’s about so much more than that. Resources play a part, that’s why we’ve given police and crime commissioners the power to raise some extra money — I’ve seen that Sadiq has said he’s going to raise £50 million which will enable him to recruit another 1,000 police officers, which is great news — but it’s not the whole picture. Everyone wants more, but where does that stop? The Met gets £2.5 billion a year. It’s the best funded force in the country. One in four policemen and women are in London so they have the resources they need.”

Ms Rudd also appealed for Labour’s support on legislation, including new laws to stop the online sales of knives to juveniles, and criticised the lack of backing for some previous measures.

She added: “The picture also has to be about legislation so that we put the right powers in place. Some of the legislation, if you are caught carrying a knife twice you are going to be sent away, Jeremy Corbyn opposed. I’d like to feel in being tough on crime we are going to get Labour’s support, but you never know.”

The Home Secretary also attended a police operation at Stratford station where 90 officers were conducting knife arch checks and searches to catch blade carriers. While there she reiterated her “100 per cent support” for “properly done” stop-and-search.

Assistant Chief Constable Robin Smith, of British Transport Police, said that he had authorised random stop-and-search under “Section 60” powers on several occasions this month and caught a number of knife offenders. He added: “The transport network is going to be a hostile place for people who try to travel with any weapon.”

Met Commander David Musker said police were determined to bring offenders to justice. “If people carry knives in public places or use them, we will target them, arrest them and put them through the courts,” he said. “That’s an important message to send out.”@martinbentham