Kemi Badenoch talks how Tories will crackdown on knife crime

The Tory leader argued that if people can get away with committing crimes and be “let off” with a short sentence or none, then they will offend. 

Responding to a question about residents on Teesside feeling knife crime was now “the norm”, she said her Government would focus on drafting in more police officers to fix the issue. 

It comes as Keir Starmer’s Government this week launched its new National Knife Crime Centre, funded by the Home Office, in a bid to halve knife crime in the next decade. 

On a visit to Wilton in Redcar this week, where Ms Badenoch announced the Tories would axe carbon tax, the party leader said: “I’m not sure whether the Government’s plans are going to work.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch at Wilton this week (Image: owen humphreys)

“I believe that the thing that will bring down crime is people knowing that they will be caught and punished. 

“If people think they can get away with committing crimes, and there’s no one around to catch them, or if they are caught, they’re going to be let off with a short sentence or no sentence, then they will commit crimes. 

“That’s why our policy is 10,000 extra police officers on top of what we have. 

“We’ve seen police officer numbers go down, because people thought crime was going down. This is not the right strategy. 

“We need a strategy where we keep a large number of police officers. That’s what’s going to fix things. 

“That’s why we have a take back our streets campaign, which is not just on the police extra police officers but also on immediate justice. 

“As soon as things go wrong, fix that straight away, even for petty crimes like graffiti. If we can sort out the small problems very quickly, we’ll be able to fix the big ones.” 

Connor Brown, Jack Woodley, Gordon Gault, Tomasz Oleszak and Holly Newton are just some of the young people who have fallen victim to knife crime in our region in recent years.

The Northern Echo continues to work with victims of knife crime through its Knife Crime Taskforce, which was launched in 2023.

The Government’s new centre will be led by Commander Stephen Clayman, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime since 2023. 

In late 2024, Commander Clayman and his team were tasked with leading a significant review into how knives are sold online to identify any gaps in legislation which could prevent them being sold illegally to under-18s. 

Commander Stephen Clayman, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime since (Image: NPCC)

A number of recommendations were made in this review and a core part of the centre’s work will be delivering these. 

This includes the requirement for retailers to refer suspicious or bulk knife sales to police and the requirement for retailers to become registered or licensed to sell knives.

The Government has already placed two recommendations into the forthcoming Policing and Crime Bill and held a public consultation in relation to retailer licensing and import licences. 

The centre will support national policing in identifying and tackling offenders who sell and distribute weapons online, often referred to as the ‘grey market’. 

The centre will also explore how best to close any ‘gaps’ which allow weapons to be imported to individuals in the UK, working with Border Force and HMRC.