Idris Elba argues against 'one size fits all' prison terms for carrying knives

Idris Elba has argued against mandatory prison sentences for carrying a knife, amid a deepening public discussion over how to tackle an "epidemic" of street violence.

- Eleni Courea Rajeev Syal

The actor and campaigner said there was no "one size fits all" that would banish weapons, and cautioned against criminalising young men caught up in a cycle of violence. His comments came the day after the family of one of the Nottingham stabbing victims, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, called for compulsory prison sentences for those caught carrying a knife.

The Home Office has said it will put forward secondary legislation to tighten the ban on "zombie" knives in England and Wales, which was first introduced in 2016. Previous attempts to ban the weapons defined them as having a cutting or serrated edge and "images or words that suggest that it is to be used for the purpose of violence". The new law, which will not come into effect until September, will also ban zombie knives with no threatening words or images, the Home Office said.

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, who visited Milton Keynes yesterday alongside the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said the ban "goes nowhere near far enough and it is also too little, too late". "It doesn't include ninja swords, it doesn't include a whole series of dangerous weapons," she told broadcasters.