Knife Crime

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the matter of knife crime.

As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. We know that knife crime is not a random event—it does not happen by accident. It is a consequence of decisions made by individuals who choose to carry knives and then to use them to brutally murder people. And what do we do? We light a candle. We hold a memorial service. We say things like, “This should never happen again,” and then we go on to blame lack of investment, lack of youth services and lack of youth clubs. But I am not buying that at all. While we are sat here in the Palace of Westminster, the families of the deceased must live a life of pain, and the families of the attackers have to live a life of shame.

Let us look at the facts. We know that knife crime in England and Wales has been rising for a long time. In 2014, there were just over 27,000 recorded offences involving knives or a sharp instrument. In the space of five years, that number doubled to over 52,000. Last year, there were more than 50,000 such offences—an increase of 4.4% from the previous year. Some 41% of all homicides in 2022-23 involved a knife or a similar weapon. I could go on and on. These numbers point to hundreds of lives being lost to extreme, senseless violence. Each murder leaves behind a grieving family, friends and community.

Since saying I was going to have this debate, I have been contacted by families who tell me they face unimaginable pain and loss. At the same time, they feel like they have not received justice for their loved ones. That should fill us all in this place with a sense of shame. We cannot blame this on a lack of investment, lack of youth clubs or lack of youth facilities. Most of the blame, I believe, lies in this room and with every single politician in this Palace, past and present. We are legislators—we can change this.

[Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing the debate. Having had to work with the families of victims of knife crime, I know that this is a hugely important and very sensitive issue. Given the picture he is portraying, does he welcome the fact that the violence reduction unit and other efforts in London, including a public health approach, have seen a reduction in this problem in the capital city, led by our Mayor but also by individual councils investing to support families and individuals to stay out of crime?

[Lee Anderson]

Of course, we welcome any sort of policy in the capital city and Ashfield that reduces knife crime, so I thank the hon. Member for his intervention.

We are all legislators, and if we cannot reduce knife crime and save lives, there is not much point in us being in this place. Some will say that we are doing enough.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing the debate, because it is immensely important. Of course, we sympathise with the families who have had these awful experiences. As he rightly says, we have to look at what we, as legislators, can do to make a difference. I point to two instances in Wales, the Dyfed-Powys and the North Wales police, where the rates are so much lower: 30 per 100,000 of population in Dyfed and Powys, where the police and crime commissioner is Plaid Cymru’s Dafydd Llywelyn; and 49 per 100,000 in north Wales. Both forces have maintained school officers who talk face to face with children and young people about the reality of crime, such as knife crime, and violence. It is to be hoped that that makes something of a real difference.

[Lee Anderson]

Education can play an important part in the reduction of knife crime, and deterrence should too. Some will say that we do enough and that action is being taken, such as the use of metal detectors or knife arches, which are being installed in schools and colleges, but how did we get to the point where knife arches are being installed in the buildings where we send our children to learn how to read and write?

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate. My constituent, Cody Fisher, a young footballer, was brutally stabbed to death at the Crane nightclub in Birmingham nearly three years ago. Since that horrific night, his family and especially his mother have been campaigning tirelessly with two Governments to get bleed control kits and the use of metal detectors in late-night venues. Will the hon. Gentleman join me in urging the Government to support Cody’s family’s campaign to ensure that no more families have to endure the heartbreak that they have endured?

[Lee Anderson]

I am happy to support the hon. Lady on Cody’s family’s campaign.

Politicians highlight the bans on certain knives, such as zombie knives, and in all honesty, those bans are not a bad thing, as we need fewer weapons on our streets, but the most common weapon used in knife crime is a simple kitchen knife, which is used in more than half of all stabbings. If someone wants to cause someone harm or to intimidate, they do not need a zombie knife, a machete or a sword; they can just get a kitchen knife.

Members will have heard about surrender bins or knife amnesties. This time last year, during the unrest, one knife bin was located outside a mosque in Small Heath in Birmingham. It was found to contain dozens of machetes, an axe, large knives and even an adapted knuckleduster knife, but how did we get to the point where we politely ask people to hand in their weapons at a local mosque? That is not policing or law enforcement; at best, it is wishful thinking or, at worst, it is total surrender to the problem.

That brings me to stop and search. In the year ending March 2024, police officers in England and Wales conducted more than half a million searches. More than 70,000 people were arrested and 16,000 weapons seized. That is thousands of potential crimes prevented, including murders, assaults, robberies and serious sexual offences. That is impressive, and we should commend our brave police officers for acting in the line of duty. A lot of people might say that stop and search does not have an impact on overall crime rates and that it does not put people off carrying knives, but that is to miss the point. Stop and search is about not only deterrence, but detection. It gives police officers the power to remove dangerous weapons before they are used, and it takes dangerous people off our streets.

In fact, in response to the intervention by the hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Neil Coyle), in London under Sadiq Khan’s leadership, there has been a reduction in stop and search of more than 23% in just one year, between 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, knife crime in London has increased by nearly 60% in just over three years—

[Neil Coyle]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Lee Anderson]

I want to make some progress. That figure is from a Policy Exchange report. [Interruption.] I am going to make some progress, because a lot of people want to speak in this important debate. I have already taken three interventions.

That is not a coincidence. It is a classic case of a Mayor who could not care less. He would sooner spend his time calling everyone who disagrees with him—

[Neil Coyle]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Lee Anderson]

I have just said that I am not going to give way. Sadiq Khan would sooner spend his time calling everyone who disagrees with him a racist, rather than stopping endless knife attacks on the streets of London.

[Neil Coyle]

On a point of order, Ms McVey.

--- Later in debate ---

[Esther McVey (in the Chair)]

It was a point of debate. There are at least 10 people who would like to speak today. You had your chance to speak, but I am afraid your temper and your attitude do not belong in Westminster Hall. I call Lee Anderson.

[Lee Anderson]

Thank you, Ms McVey. It is not the first time that the hon. Member has been thrown out of a room on this estate.

We must use powers lawfully, and our police cannot be hindered. We cannot allow a fear of red tape, or baseless accusations of institutional racism or unconscious bias to stop police officers doing their job. Serving police officers and former police officers reached out to me ahead of this debate, and they all said the same thing: we need to reform policing priorities from top to bottom, we must protect police officers and increase stop and search, without apology and without hesitation. In the same way, the message coming from our courts must be clear: if you are caught with a knife, you go to jail.

When someone puts a knife in their pocket and walks out of their front door, they have made a choice and there must be consequences to it. Today the maximum sentence for possession of a knife is four years. For second knife offences, adults are supposed to face a mandatory six months’ jail sentence, but that in reality looks completely different. In 2023, only 28% of people caught with a knife went to prison, down from 33% in 2018. Dangerous men are walking away with little more than a slap on their wrist or a community sentence. The rate of offenders who receive just a caution has dropped a lot over the past 30 years, and we know that the average custodial sentence has crept up to just over seven months for possession of a knife, and almost 15 months for threatening offences. That might sound like progress, but those sentences are far too short. Community sentences are still being handed out to most youth offenders, and it is no wonder that young lads are becoming more brazen, carrying knives in broad daylight, and making TikTok videos with their machetes. They do that because they know that our justice system is a soft touch.

There are lots of reasons why a boy might decide to pick up a knife. Some believe it is for protection, but we should never have got to a point in our society where someone feels the need to carry a knife to be protected. That said, I must highlight that adult men are the primary offenders, and they are responsible for over 80% of all knife crime offences. These are not just isolated incidents among youngsters, and that is no wonder when grown men are getting off too. Just a couple of weeks ago we all saw a man avoid prison despite attacking someone with a knife. The person was burning a Quran, and in this instance the court basically said, “It’s okay to take justice into your own hands. If you attack and threaten someone with a knife for causing you offence, he will be the one who is convicted, and you won’t have to go to prison.” At the same time, people are getting locked up for Facebook posts or offensive tweets. It is madness. Communities across the country are fed up with our weak and flimsy justice system. They have had enough; they want action, not words.

Over the summer I submitted several written questions to the Home Office about illegal migrants crossing the English channel in small boats, and I asked how many of them have been found carrying drugs and weapons on their arrival in the UK. I got a response from the then Minister, the hon. Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle). She told me that the migrants were searched upon arrival and that:

“Some small weapons—for example, knives—have occasionally been seized as a result of those searches over the past seven years,”.

“Some small weapons”—what kind of pathetic, weak answer is that? People in this country want to know how many people, and how many knives have been found. How many of those men are still here, and how many are still being put up in taxpayer-funded hotels? The Minister owes it to our concerned constituents to tell us what is happening to men who arrive on our shores carrying knives.

We have enough of a home-grown knife problem already; we do not want to import more. While I am on this point, I want the Minister to tell us how many illegal immigrants have committed knife offences in our country over the past few years. Individuals might have had a knife taken off them when they got to this country, but it is not that difficult to get another knife. That information should be made publicly available.

I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that I am sick of politicians speaking at vigils, lighting candles and sharing their sympathies with the families and loved ones of another person murdered on our streets, only to come back to this place and avoid taking decisive action. We need police officers who take violent criminals off our streets, courts that administer real justice for victims and a Government not afraid to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to knife crime. How else are our constituents going to feel safe?

Our message needs to be plain and simple: “If you pick up a knife, you will feel the full force of the law and go to prison.” I have one ask on behalf of the law-abiding British public: anyone caught carrying a dangerous weapon should receive an automatic custodial sentence. I am not talking about Swiss army knives, penknives, small knives or tools used for fishing or arts and crafts, nor about men coming back from a shift at the local factory, plumbers, electricians or carpenters. I am talking about the type of knife carried by people who have no reason to carry such weapons in a public place.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Lee Anderson]

Thank you, Ms McVey, for the way you handled the unruly situation early on with great dignity. I would like to give a special mention to Sir David Amess. The last time I spoke to Sir David was in this room, when he chaired a debate just over four years ago. I thank everybody for turning up today and for their contributions. I agreed with a lot of most of them.

The Lib Dem spokesman spoke about the time when I supported the Conservative Government’s cuts to the police force. I gently remind him that I was not in the Conservative party at that time—he might want to take that away. I am a little bit encouraged by what the Minister had to say. I thank Adam Brooks and Norman Brennan, who are in the Public Gallery today. They set up an online petition to bring this debate to Parliament and asked me to sign it. I said, “No, I’m not signing it—I’m going to apply for a debate in Westminster Hall.” If the Lib Dem spokesman wants to speak to a retired police officer and a gentleman whose family was affected brutally by knife crime, he is welcome to do so after this debate.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the matter of knife crime.

Manchester Terrorism Attack

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

My hon. Friend will understand that decisions on whether specific concerts or other cultural events go ahead are made independently by safety advisory groups in those particular locations, informed by evidence on the operational requirements. It would be quite wrong for me, as the Home Secretary, either to pre-empt those decisions or to call into question their legal basis by commenting on them from the Dispatch Box.

It is important that safety advisory groups, wherever they are, take into account all the factors around these cultural events and ensure that they take the measures required to keep our communities safe. That is the job they are supposed to do, and it is the job that I hope they will do.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

While the Prime Minister is swanning around Egypt, shamelessly trying to claim credit for the Gaza-Israel peace deal, we have the Mayor of London stating that the chant “From the river to the sea” is not antisemitic. I think it is antisemitic. Does the Home Secretary agree with me or with the Mayor of London?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I really do not think the hon. Member should lower the tone in that way. These are very serious matters, and we should all be united in this House in supporting the peace process in the middle east, which has undoubtedly made progress in the last few days because of the actions of the American President and other partners in the region.

One reason I am reviewing the wider legislation in this area, including the thresholds for what constitutes a hate crime, is precisely that we have many contested phrases that, based on context, currently fall foul of being prosecuted. I want to ensure that we have the most robust legal mechanisms so that hate speech and hate crimes are always prosecuted in our country, and that those who propagate them face the full force of the law.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I can give the hon. Gentleman that assurance. The Government authorise the use of animals in science under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in order to support critical national objectives in public health, scientific innovation and environmental protection. The authorisations provided by the regulator are not a blanket approval, but a tightly regulated process that has rigorous and robust ethical, legal and scientific scrutiny.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

3. What steps she is taking to help prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel illegally.

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Shabana Mahmood)]

Under this Government, the National Crime Agency has led 347 disruptions of immigration crime networks—its highest level on record, and a 40% increase on the previous year. We are passing legislation to give both the National Crime Agency and law enforcement more powers to arrest those suspected of facilitating people smuggling at a much earlier stage. I was very sorry to see that the hon. Member did not match his rhetoric with real action by voting for those measures when they were before the House.

[Lee Anderson]

I have it on good authority that the people smugglers in northern Europe are absolutely delighted with Labour’s new Front-Bench team, and especially with the promotion of the hon. Member for Dover and Deal (Mike Tapp), because they know we will get more of the same from this Labour Government. The boats will keep coming, the boats will get bigger and the people smugglers will make more money. What difference is this Home Secretary going to make that the last Home Secretary could not?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I think the hon. Member has just admitted to having a hotline to a bunch of people smugglers. Perhaps he would like to contact the National Crime Agency and tell it that he is in touch with a bunch of criminals, so that they can be appropriately dealt with. All he and his party have is a bunch of rhetoric and no answers to the problems that the previous Government left behind. It is this Government who will clean up the mess and secure our borders.

Borders and Asylum

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right to talk about international law, and the ECHR being part of the reason why we have been able to get international agreements; other countries know that we will abide by international law. That is how we got the French pilot, which the previous Government were repeatedly unable to do. The way in which the ECHR is interpreted is significant and needs to keep up to date. We have a challenge around article 8 and family cases; far too many cases are being treated as exceptions to the rules that Parliament has set. We think the rules need to change for us to address that, and we need to work through changes to how article 8 in particular is interpreted in our immigration and asylum system. We will set out more details on that in our asylum reform package later this year.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

Every time the Home Secretary announces a new policy on illegal migration, illegal migration goes up, so I think a period of silence would be most welcome from her. Does she agree that the only way to stop the pull factor is to detain, deport and never allow illegal migrants to claim asylum in this country?

[Yvette Cooper]

The pilot scheme we have agreed with France involves, for the first time, our being able to detain people on their arrival in Dover—this has not happened before—and return them to France, where the boats set off from. Previous Governments, including the one that the hon. Gentleman supported and was part of, were unable to agree or achieve that. We have also increased returns of failed asylum seekers by nearly 30% since the election alone, because we believe that the rules need to be enforced, and that returns need to be increased. The problem with his party’s approach is that it sounds a lot like the last Tory Government’s grand promises, which totally failed. His party is just rehashing the same chaotic promises, without ever being able to provide the detail of how it would make any of its policies work. The British way is to roll up our sleeves and do things in a practical way, increase returns, and sort the problems out.

Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Diana Johnson]

My hon. Friend raises a really important point. After the disorder last summer we did see communities spontaneously coming together and wanting to say that what had happened in their local area was done not by the majority but by a very small number of people. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been working with local authorities on rebuilding community cohesion—which for many years under the last Administration was not seen as important at all—because it is so important that all parts of our society feel safe and valued. Through community cohesion, we stop those who wish to divide and pit people against each other, and recognise the valuable role that all parts of society and our communities play.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

Illegal migrants crossing the channel are 24 times more likely to end up in British jails than British-born citizens, yet this Government allow thousands of unvetted males to enter this country who will commit horrific crimes like rape and murder, and there are some potential terrorists among them too. Does the Minister agree that it is time to forget the silly legislation that Labour MPs are bleating on about and to detain these people and deport them? We do not want to see any of these silly tags put on their ankles; just detain and deport them straight away.

[Dame Diana Johnson]

I sat on the Select Committee on Home Affairs with the hon. Gentleman for a number of years and I think he attended the visit to Manston when we were both on the Committee. [Interruption.] Well, perhaps he did not, but it might have helped if he had. At Manston, information and biometrics are taken from people who come across in small boats; they are checked against records. I wish he would have a look at what actually happens. I think the statistic he mentioned comes from a newspaper; I do not think it has actually been verified, although I am willing to have a look at it, but I think it was in The Sun if I recall correctly.

UK-France Migration: Co-operation

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right. The previous Government tried at different stages to do the kinds of things that we are setting out, but they allowed the relationship with France to deteriorate to the point of diplomacy by tweets and social media, which did not get practical agreements in place. The work that we have done provides practical arrangements that we can build on, and we can trial different approaches. That is the best way to strengthen our border security, and it is what successive Governments had done until recent years.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

I have never heard such pathetic drivel in all my life as I have from the Home Secretary and her Back Benchers. It is not the people smugglers bringing illegal migrants over the channel but the French warships who transport them halfway and give them to British border security, who bring them to our shores, put them in buses and take them to hotels. The real people smugglers are the French and British authorities. Does the Home Secretary agree that the British Border Force should take these illegal migrants straight back to France?

[Yvette Cooper]

No one should be making these dangerous boat crossings; they undermine border security and put lives at risk. If the hon. Member really cares about stopping boats and stopping the criminals who organise them, why have he and his party repeatedly voted against bringing in counter-terrorism powers to go after the gangs? Why have they repeatedly voted against the new laws on illegal working to clamp down on people in the gig economy? Why has he repeatedly voted against laws to have stronger and higher standards against criminality in our asylum system? Time and again, they vote against because they want not to solve the problem but just to moan about it. They do not actually want to change anything with France—to work to get France to intervene in French waters as the Government have been doing. Instead, all they want to do is shout at the sea.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am sure we will all be reflecting on where we were 20 years ago. He is right about the nature of the threat we face today and he makes a very good suggestion. As he will know, we work very closely with our French neighbours. Important conversations will be taking place against the backdrop of the state visit, but I will consider more carefully the point he makes.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

We know that terrorists and potential terrorists are coming on small boats across the English channel, so why is Border Force picking these people up and bringing them to the UK?

[Dan Jarvis]

I can say to the hon. Gentleman that we are strengthening those checks. We continually assess potential threats in the UK and ensure that we guard against them.

Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s point about the need to ensure that victims are not criminalised for the coercion and crimes committed against them. That failure—the tendency to blame victims for the appalling crimes committed against them—has been a pervasive problem through the years. We are looking further at the issues of online grooming and exploitation, which are escalating. In a complication, more teenagers themselves are involved in that exploitation. It is more complicated to identify where people are being coerced and where they are actually criminals committing these crimes.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

It is amazing, staggering, that Labour MPs can come here today and welcome an inquiry, yet when they were given the chance, they all voted against one. These girls—the victims of the Pakistani grooming gangs—were kidnapped, abused, drugged and raped, and when they reached out for help, everybody ignored them. It is little wonder that they have no faith in the system. But they can regain faith if the Home Secretary agrees with me and appoints Maggie Oliver as chair of the inquiry.

[Yvette Cooper]

I say to the hon. Member that child sexual exploitation and abuse are some of the most vile crimes that our country faces. What Baroness Casey’s report sets out in some detail, over 17 pages, is that there has been report after report after review after review but so many of the recommendations were never implemented, so concerns that were raised at the time of the Rotherham inquiry about issues around ethnicity, lack of information-sharing and lack of protection for children were simply not acted on. Baroness Casey herself says:

“If we’d got this right years ago—seeing these girls as children raped rather than ‘wayward teenagers’…then I doubt we’d be in this place now.”

The hon. Member was a member of the previous Government, who failed to do that. I hope that he agrees that successive Governments and agencies across the country have failed to act. We need to ensure that there is a proper independent inquiry, as well as, most crucially of all, action by police in the operations that will bring perpetrators to justice and put them behind bars.

National Security Act 2023: Charges

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Monday 19th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right. We are increasingly seeing a pattern where foreign state organisations end up using criminal proxies to pursue malign activity. That is why we have to link up the work around serious and organised crime with work around counter-terrorism and work around state threats. It is about combining the different hybrid threats that we now face, which is why the new national security strategy is so important.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

The Home Secretary said in her statement:

“The Iranian regime poses an unacceptable threat to our domestic security, which cannot continue.”

Yet we know that Iranians make up the third-largest group of illegal migrants crossing channel, so does the Home Secretary agree that any Iranians crossing the channel should be detained and deported and should not be allowed to claim asylum?

[Yvette Cooper]

The system that we inherited from the previous Government—including a Government that the hon. Member was at different times a part of—was not strong enough. Border security needs to be treated as a national security issue, but it has not been for far too long. That is why we are introducing counter-terrorism-style powers as part of our border security response. I am really sorry that he and his party repeatedly chose to vote against those counter-terrorism powers, because we need those powers to be introduced. We are also strengthening the security and criminality checks across the asylum and immigration system, because we need to make sure that we are doing everything possible to keep our country safe.

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

Lee Anderson Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 12th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle]

My hon. Friend is right. We inherited a system in total chaos; asylum decision making had all but ground to a halt. Many, many tens of thousands of people were left having claimed asylum, as the law allowed them to, but unable to be processed because the previous Government passed a law that made it illegal for them to be processed. They were left in limbo. The cases were just piling up and costing the taxpayer a fortune. We have had to untangle the situation.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

I thank the Minister for giving way; she is being most generous with her time. She will be aware that more than 600 illegal migrants have entered this country today. They could get up to all sorts of mischief, and commit crimes and maybe even acts of terrorism. Does she agree that these young men crossing the channel should be immediately detained and deported, along with the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn)?