In a bid to crackdown on rising knife crime the government is encouraging people to hand in zombie style knives and machetes before they are banned in the UK on Sept 24.

Those found in possession of one of these weapons after this date will face a prison sentence.

The change in law is part of a plan to halve knife crime within the next 10 years, a pledge made by Prime Minster Kier Starmer which he reinforced earlier this week at a knife crime summit held at Downing Street.

The Prime Minster has set up a coalition of experts, police, victims’ families and Hollywood star Idris Elba to tackle the issue.

It aims to stop young people from being dragged into violent gangs and will hold annual meetings to work towards reducing knife crime, which is now the most common method of homicide in England and Wales.

According to the latest figures, the number of knife-related offences in England and Wales rose to 49,489 in 2023, up from 46,153 in 2022.

Although this number is still 3% lower than the pre-pandemic peak of 51,206 in 2019, the upward trend is concerning, especially with a 20% increase in robberies involving knives.

Source: Action on armed Violence.