LUTHER STAR Idris Elba will join Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper at the first annual knife crime summit today (Monday September 9) to launch a new coalition aimed at tackling an issue that has been described as a ‘national crisis’. 

The coalition, called the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, will involve campaign groups, families affected by knife crime, young people, as well as Elba’s Hope Foundation.

Solutions

It will collaborate with tech companies, sports organisations, the NHS, and the police with the aim of understanding  the root causes of knife crime and developing solutions.

The government has said it hopes the coalition can help halve knife crime within the next decade.

Ahead of today’s summit, Elba expressed his support for the initiative as well as  emphasising the need for long-term solutions that empower communities.

“We need to tackle the root causes of knife crime, not just the symptoms” said Elba. “The coalition is a positive step toward rehabilitating our communities from the inside out.”

Describing knife crime as a ‘national crisis, the prime minister will draw from his legal career as former Director of Public Prosecutions, where he witnessed its impact and reiterated the government’s promise to halve offences within a decade.

Devastating impact

Ahead of the meeting, he said: “As Director of Public Prosecutions, I saw firsthand the devastating impact that knife crime has on young people and their families. This is a national crisis that we will tackle head on.

“We will take this moment to come together as a country – politicians, families of victims, young people themselves, community leaders and tech companies – to halve knife crime and take back our streets.”

Ministers are working on steps to tighten regulations on dangerous weapons which includes banning ninja swords as well as strengthening laws on online knife sales.

Commander Stephen Clayman, the national policing lead for knife crime, is conducting a rapid review to understand how knives are sold and delivered to under-18s online, aiming to close legal loopholes.

He will report to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper by the end of the year. Clayman has warned that knives are too easily accessible and hopes to collaborate with the government, retailers, and the third sector to bring long-term change.

10-year plan

The coalition’s launch marks the first step in the government’s 10-year plan to tackle knife crime, aiming to keep Britain’s streets safe and build on the Home Office’s Young Futures programme to prevent youth violence.

The summit follows meetings in June, where Elba and Sir Keir spoke with families of knife crime victims.

Pastor Lorraine Jones told Sir Keir and Elba at the meeting that she saw her son, Dwayne Simpson, killed with ‘one jab wound’ that ‘went straight through his heart’.

She said: “We want to be around the table with you, because we do have the answers right now. We’ve got patrols, Idris, volunteers that are patrolling before school and after school, because we haven’t got enough police officers.

“We haven’t got enough people in the community, we are desperate. And the most brutal thing is we’re saying it’s becoming the norm. We don’t want it to become the norm.”

The actor also met the King to discuss reducing youth violence through the King’s Trust. Having benefited from a Prince’s Trust grant as a teenager, Elba launched his own initiative, Don’t Stop Your Future, which is calling for an immediate ban on zombie knives. Source: Voice Online