Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the sale of (a) knives, (b) swords, and (c) battle axes on third-party online selling platforms.

The Government has been strengthening controls on the online sales of bladed articles, including knives, swords and axes. We commissioned Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, to conduct a review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The review was published on 19 February 2025 and made a number of recommendations.

We are taking forward the most pressing recommendations in the report under “Ronan’s Law” a range of measures in the Crime and Policing Bill which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives, including third party platforms, incorporating strengthening age verification controls and checks through a two-stage checks at the point of purchase and on delivery.

We have introduced new legislation in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide the police with the power to require social media, marketplace, and search services to take down illegal knife and offensive weapon content. Failure to remove this material could result in both the company and a designated senior executive facing significant penalties. Further measures in the Bill, include increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives and introduce a duty on sellers to report online bulk sales of knives.

We are also looking to go further, In December last year we launched a consultation on plans to introduce a licensing scheme for those who sell knives or other bladed articles, including importers, retailers and private sellers, making them subject to strict regulations and conditions. The consultation closed on 24 February, and we are currently analysing the responses and will provide a response in due course.

Effective law enforcement is also very important. We are therefore supporting the creation of a new police unit, the National Knife Crime Centre to provide a national capability tackling the unlawful sale and marketing of knives and weapons online and links to wider criminality. In 2026/27 we are providing the Centre with £1.75m of funding for its activities.