One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was sit with a grieving mother – Zoey.
She showed me a video that I will never forget, of her cradling her son Jack, singing to him as he lay in a hospital bed, dying from a knife wound.
There are no words I could say that could possibly comfort her.
As a father of two children, I can’t think of anything more unbearable than losing a child.
People up and down the UK will be all too familiar with devastating stories like Zoey’s, and the impact knife crime has on many communities.
It is about the fear of crime as well as the crime itself: the dread of walking home alone in the dark, the belief of a growing number of teenagers that they need to carry a knife to protect themselves, the sense that their community is unsafe.
In Britain today, there is an epidemic of knife crime, and it’s growing fastest in the towns and suburbs.
The statistics tell a chilling story. Knife crime is up 70% since 2015. Recent figures show those committing the crimes are getting away with it, arrests for notifiable offences have more than halved since 2010.
Too often nothing is done when there are signs that a young person is getting into trouble, being groomed by gangs, or lost into a dangerous online world.
And too often, the Tories say they will act, and fail to do so.
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It’s beyond a joke that since 2015 they’ve announced 16 times they will crack down on knife crime by banning the sale of lethal knives.
Yet nothing happens, it’s all talk and no action. They can’t press release their way out of their abysmal record.
The fact that it’s easier for a child to buy a zombie style knife online than it is to buy a kitchen knife in a department store is as infuriating as it is shocking. It’s young people that are paying the price for Tory sticking plaster politics.
But are we really surprised that if we cut the numbers of neighbourhood police and PCSOs, close down youth clubs and disempower local councils, then this is fertile grounds for crime and antisocial behaviour to flourish and criminal gangs fill the void?
Enough is enough. We’ve got to turn the page on this spiral of violence.
As the country’s former Chief Prosecutor, I locked dangerous criminals up for a living. I’ve seen the impact of violent crime up close.
I’ve spoken to many parents who, like Zoey, won’t see their child again.
I know what it will take to get to grips with knife crime. And that is what my changed Labour Party will do. That’s why, today, I’ve outlined our action plan to get violence off our streets. Our approach is clear. If you flout the law, you’ll face the full force of it. No ifs, no buts.
Tough on knife crime means we won’t shrug our shoulders when kids are caught with knives. An apology letter is not enough. Meaningless warnings are not enough.
Prison sentences for the worst offenders. A referral to a youth offending team for all those caught carrying a knife. Tough sanctions in the more serious cases.
That means curfews to stop the perpetrators being out on the streets at night, tagging so the authorities know where they are. Put simply – if you carry a knife, you’ll carry the consequences.
Tough on the causes of knife crime means more prevention. We will get knives off our streets with a comprehensive ban on the sale of zombie style knives, machetes and swords.
Campaigns like Idris Elba’s Don’t Stop Your Future has laid bare that human cost of inaction.
No warm words and governing by headline, we will ban them. And we won’t stop there.
We will impose tough criminal sanctions on tech executives who allow knife sales on their online marketplaces, such as Amazon Marketplace, eBay and Instagram. It cannot be beyond the will of a government to get a grip of this.
As Chief Prosecutor, I saw time and again the power of prevention. But lives are being lost to knife crime because Tory governments don’t.
That’s why our radical Young Futures programme is so vital. It brings services together in one place; youth services, mental health services, new opportunities, targeting them at those who need them most.
It will be a nationwide programme with youth hubs in every community across the country. It will mean youth workers in A&E departments, custody centres and communities, and mentors in pupil referral units, to target young people most at risk of being drawn into violence.
As Prime Minister I’ll fight tooth and nail to ensure we hear less heart-breaking stories like Zoey’s.
Labour’s long-term plan to halve knife crime and take back our streets will show that actions really do speak louder than words.
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