Knife Crime: Children and Young People

Paulette Hamilton Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) for securing this important debate. Knife crime continues to cast a dark shadow over our communities, claiming young lives, shattering families and leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Last year, 10 people were stabbed every week in Birmingham—a statistic that is both alarming and unacceptable. Within my constituency covering Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle Vale and south Oscott, the B23 postcode has been particularly affected. In 2023, it recorded the highest number of knife-related incidents in the entire city, but behind those statistics are real lives, real families and real pain. When knife crime tears through families, it destroys lives and devastates entire communities.

Just weeks ago, this crisis struck my family, turning our world upside down. My nephew—a kind-hearted, wonderful young man—was brutally attacked in an act of senseless knife violence. His crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. While his wounds are healing, it will take months for him to fully recover. The emotional trauma inflicted on him and our family, however, is immeasurable. This is a pain no family should ever have to endure, yet it is a pain that far too many are forced to bear.

Knife crime thrives in the shadows of neglect. Fourteen years of austerity under the last Government gutted our communities, stripping away 70% of the support systems that once guided and protected young people. In Erdington, the closure of the Malcolm Locker youth centre in 2014 marked the end of the last council-run youth service in my constituency. The cuts have left a void that is too often filled by despair and violence. I am glad that this Government have recognised the problem of knife crime and included provisions to address it in the Crime and Policing Bill, but we can and must do more.

I have always said that prevention is better than cure, and while the police play a vital role in tackling crime, a sustainable solution requires a preventive, community-led and partnership-driven approach. In Birmingham, we have inspiring examples in organisations like Bringing Hope, which I have worked with for many years, which works relentlessly to tackle knife crime among children and young people. Similarly, the YMCA in Erdington is unwavering in its dedication to our young people. On my recent visit, I celebrated with them the purchase of 83 flats, ensuring that young people have safe places to live and access to the support they need.

Initiatives like those show us the way forward. We must create greater aspirations and opportunities for young people, offering them a future beyond a life of crime. That requires long-term investment in our communities, our youth services and the organisations already making a difference, saying that we can always go even further upstream to support families and end deprivation in communities like mine.

My nephew did not deserve what happened to him—nobody does. Yet too many families are still left to feel this pain, and too many young people are still becoming victims. We can no longer afford to be complacent. Every moment of inaction puts another young life at risk. We must come together across the House and within our communities to break this cycle of violence.