Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce knife crime.

Tackling knife crime is a priority for Government. Since this Government has been in office, knife homicides have fallen by almost 20% while knife crime overall has fallen for the first time in 4 years, dropping by 5% in our first year from 54,215 to 51,527. Stabbings have fallen by 10% (as measured by hospital admissions for assault with a sharp object – NHS data).

60,000 knives have also been removed from the streets of England and Wales under this Government, through weapons surrender schemes, knives seized by Border Force and those recovered through County Lines Programme operations.

Our approach to tackling knife-crime is centred around smart, targeted interventions and enforcement, and a tough legislative landscape to remove dangerous weapons from our streets. Whilst also working across government to tackle the root causes of knife-crime, including through Violence Reduction Units and the new Young Futures Programme supporting those most at risk.

We have introduced tougher knife control measures by banning zombie-style knives and machetes in September 2024 and ninja swords in August 2025. Ronan's Law tightens online knife sales with stricter age checks and penalties and we are introducing new powers to strengthen policing’s ability to seize, retain and destroy dangerous knives.

These efforts are supported by smarter policing – including data led hotspot patrols, knife arches, facial recognition – and strong partnerships with charities and communities.

We are also introducing new, innovative tools to fight knife crime, identifying crime hotspots by breaking towns and cities into small hexagonal zones where hyper-local issues can be spotted. It will allow the police to partner with local communities, advocacy groups, local authorities and youth outreach teams to spot a problem and take action together to stop it.