Introduction: A Nation Still Bleeding

In August 2024, I published a report on the alarming rise in knife crime across the UK, catalysed by the horrific murders of three young girls in Southport. That tragedy was not an isolated incident; it was a symptom of a deeper societal wound. A year later, the landscape has shifted. There are signs of progress, but the crisis is entrenched.

This yearly review examines the latest data, policy developments, and community responses, while renewing the call for a dedicated Minister or Commissioner for Knife Crime Prevention.

Knife Crime Trends: Progress and Persistence

Recent data from the Home Office and Youth Justice Board reveals a nuanced picture:

• Knife-enabled robberies declined by 10% nationally between June 2024 and August 2025.
• West Midlands Police led the reduction with a 30% drop, equating to 771 fewer offences.
• British Transport Police saw a 26% decrease, while Avon and Somerset recorded a 14% drop.
• Metropolitan Police reported a 5% decline, and Greater Manchester saw a 3% reduction.

Yet, knife-related murders remain stubbornly high, with over 240 deaths in the past year, nearly identical to 2024 figures. These numbers are not just statistics. Each one represents a life lost, a family shattered, and a community left grieving.

Tactical Interventions: The KER Taskforce

In October 2024, the government launched the Knife-Enabled Robbery (KER) Taskforce, a coalition of seven police forces targeting high-risk areas. Their strategy included:

• Deployment of knife arches and drones
• Plain clothes patrols in hotspot zones
• Enhanced intelligence sharing across jurisdictions
• Youth diversion programs to steer vulnerable individuals away from crime

The task force met its six-month goal of reversing the robbery trend. However, critics argue that while effective in the short term, these measures are reactive and lack the depth needed for long-term change.

Legislative Shifts: Ronan’s Law and Political Promises

In August 2025, Ronan’s Law was enacted, banning the possession, sale, or import of ninja swords. This followed the tragic murder of 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was killed with such a weapon in 2022. The law is a step forward, but it reflects a troubling pattern: legislation passed only after tragedy strikes.

The newly elected government has pledged to halve knife crime within a decade as part of its “Plan for Change” initiative. While ambitious, the plan lacks clarity on funding, enforcement, and community engagement, raising concerns that it may be another symbolic gesture rather than a transformative policy.

Ronan’s Law: Symbolism vs. Substance

Although I welcome Ronan’s Law, the uncomfortable truth is that the vast majority of knife-related offences in the UK are committed with kitchen knives, not specialist blades. According to the Office for National Statistics and the Ben Kinsella Trust:

• Over 70% of knife crime injuries involve domestic kitchen knives, often taken from homes or local shops.
• These knives are readily available, cheap, and unregulated, making them the weapon of choice in spontaneous acts of violence, domestic abuse, and youth altercations.
• Exotic weapons like zombie knives and ninja swords account for a tiny fraction of incidents, though their visual impact often dominates headlines.

Ronan’s Law is a step forward, but it risks being symbolic rather than systemic. It addresses the rarest tools of violence while leaving the most common ones untouched.

If we are serious about reducing knife crime, we must:

• Implement mandatory safe storage campaigns for kitchen knives in homes and businesses.
• Introduce retail-level restrictions on large blades, including age verification and packaging reforms.
• Fund education programs that address impulsive violence and conflict resolution, especially in schools and youth centers.

We must move beyond reactive legislation and toward preventive infrastructure. Ronan’s Law honours a life lost, but it must be the beginning of a broader strategy, not the end.

Youth Justice: Signs of Hope

The Youth Justice Board reports:

• 3,200 knife or offensive weapon offences were committed by children in the year ending March 2025, a 6% decrease from the previous year.
• 99.7% of these were possession offences; 0.1% involved threats.
• 61% resulted in community sentences, while 7% led to immediate custody.

These figures suggest that early intervention and community-based sentencing may be working. However, without sustained investment in youth services, these gains risk being temporary.

Root Causes: Still Unaddressed

Despite tactical and legislative efforts, the root causes of knife crime remain largely untouched:

• Poverty and austerity continue to erode community resilience.
• Mental health services remain underfunded and overstretched.
• Gang exploitation of vulnerable youth persists, especially in urban areas.
• Youth clubs and outreach programs have not been restored to pre-austerity levels.

Without addressing these systemic issues, knife crime will remain a recurring tragedy rather than a solvable crisis.

Remembering the Lost

Since the Southport tragedy, over 240 more lives have been taken by knives. Among them are children, parents, and community leaders. Their names deserve remembrance. Their deaths demand action.

A Call for Structural Reform

It is time, past time, for the UK to establish:

• A Minister for Knife Crime Prevention, with cross-departmental authority and budgetary power.
• Or at minimum, a Commissioner for Knife Crime, empowered to coordinate national strategy, community engagement, and legislative reform.

This must not be another token appointment. It must be a role with teeth, funding, and accountability.

Final Words: From Grief to Action

A year on, the UK remains in the grip of a knife crime epidemic. While tactical interventions and legislative changes have slowed down the rise in some areas, the human cost continues to mount, and I have stood at the frontlines of that grief.

I have stood beside families across the country, where the pain of loss echoes through the streets.

Victims like Khayri McLean, a 15-year-old boy stabbed outside his school in Huddersfield, and Kelli Bothwell, a 53-year-old woman fatally stabbed in her own home in Sheffield by her partner.

In Sheffield, I bore witness to the anguish of those mourning Daniel Micska, a father of two whose life was “snuffed out” in an 11-second knife attack by a 21-year-old man in Barnsley. His dreams of a new life in Britain ended in a moment of senseless violence.

In Manchester, with the tragic loss of Rhamero West, a 16-year-old boy stabbed to death in Old Trafford. His mother, Kelly Brown, turned her grief into action by founding Mero’s World, a charity that has since installed over 50 bleed control cabinets across Greater Manchester and launched a youth hub in Fallowfield.

And I will never forget the names etched into my heart:

• Harvey Willgoose, whose life was taken in a senseless act that left a community reeling and a family forever changed.
• Rhiannon Whyte, a young woman whose promise and light were extinguished in a moment of violence that should never have happened.
• Leo Ross, whose death sparked vigils across Birmingham and calls for justice that still echo today.

But perhaps the most harrowing moment came on October 2, 2025, during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. I stood outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Synagogue in Manchester, where a terror attack unfolded with devastating consequences. The assailant, armed with a knife and driving a car into worshippers, killed Melvin Cravitz (66) and Adrian Daulby (53), and injured several others including Andrew Franks, Yoni Finlay, and a security guard known only as Bernard.

The attacker pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before being shot dead by police. The community, still reeling, returned to prayer days later, a testament to resilience in the face of hate. I joined mourners in Crumpsall, not only to grieve, but to reaffirm our shared commitment to remembrance, unity, and the urgent need for reform.

These are not isolated tragedies. They are part of a national pattern of loss. In the 12 months to August 2025, 262 people were murdered with knives, including 57 young people under 25, 17 of them under 16. These are children who will never graduate, never fall in love, and never grow old.

We must do more than mourn. We must act.

The time has come for structural reform. I continue my call for the appointment of a dedicated Minister for Knife Crime Prevention or a Commissioner with real authority, someone who can coordinate across education, health, policing, and community services. Someone who can ensure that no more families are left to grieve in silence.

Let us not wait for the next name, the next vigil, the next headline.

Let us act now with urgency, compassion, and resolve.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

References

• Current State of Knife Crime August 2024 | Edwin Duggan Human Rights Advocate
• Home Office Knife Crime Statistics – October 2025
• Office for National Statistics – Homicide Data 2024–2025
• BBC News – Ronan Kanda Murder and Legislative Response
• Manchester Synagogue Terror Attack – MSN
• Manchester Synagogue Attack – Wikipedia
• Knife Crime Statistics – The Ben Kinsella Trust

Edwin Duggan LLB(Hons)

Published 29th October 2025