Schools facing knife attack 'emergency', warn experts

Schools are facing a knife crime "emergency" with four attacks on children or teachers each week, The Independent can reveal.

- ALEX ROSS

It comes amid concerns knife crime has dropped down the political agenda in the general election as Labour and the Tories focus on each other's tax plans and Nigel Farage's Reform UK tries to push immigration to the forefront. Campaigners and families of victims have accused the main political parties of silence on the issue, with knife crime and how to tackle it noticeably absent from the leaders’ debates and interviews.

EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella, whose brother Ben was stabbed to death in 2008 as he celebrated completing his GCSEs, accused leaders of ignoring the issue, telling The Independent: “It’s time for political leaders to break the silence during this [election] campaign.”

The Independent found that police received 174 reports of attacks involving blades or sharp instruments during term time last year, according to Freedom of Information figures provided by 27 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. Between January and December 2023, there were also 738 incidents of weapon possession in schools, which can include broken glass as well as knives.

At the 2010 general election, the then Tory leader David Cameron made tackling knife crime one of his top priorities. But now, with an epidemic on Britain’s streets, home secretary James Cleverly has not been as outspoken on the issue.

Mr Cleverly was vocal during the London mayoral election when he tried to blame Sadiq Khan for an overall increase in knife crime based on statistics about the problem in the capital. But after Mr Khan was re-elected on 2 May, the debate has slipped down the agenda.

A spokesperson for the home secretary insisted that he is still “very concerned” about knife crime. They added: “There is a problem, and in government we have done a lot on it, but there is no doubt that the problem is disproportionately in London where Sadiq Khan has failed to get a grip on it.”