KID yobs caught carrying knives should not be let off the hook so easily, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Labour leader has vowed to end soft-touch sanctions for blade-wielding thugs – who can currently get away with possession by writing a simple apology letter.
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Instead he wants to punish them with curfews, ankle tags and behaviour orders alongside mandatory education.
He said: “No more apology letters, no more weak warnings. If you carry a knife, you’ll carry the consequences.”
The dad-of-two also said he had spoken to teenagers in Stoke who “feel scared” going into the high street even in daylight.
He announced his latest crime crackdown as the government laid legislation to ban possession of zombie-style knives.
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While zombie knives are already banned, there are loopholes meaning many are effectively still sold.
Under tighter laws being enforced from September, loopholes will be tightened to prohibit all long serrated blades.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “Knife crime continues to take precious lives away, and I am determined to put an end to this senseless violence.
“We must stop these dangerous knives ending up on our streets and in the hands of criminals. We cannot let them be sold to children, and we must give young people a way out of violence.”
It came as the mother of Nottingham knifeman Valdo Calocane’s victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar called for tougher jail terms for those caught carrying knives.
Sinead O’Malley told BBC Breakfast : “I believe there has to be mandatory prison sentences for carrying a knife.
“It is not just an offensive weapon or something you could eat your food with. It is a lethal weapon.”
