Anglers OK in Cameron's eyes...

David Cameron has declared that he'd like to toughen up the UK's laws on knife crime. During an interview for the Sun, the Conservative leader stated that he believes anybody who is caught carrying a knife without lawful reason should automatically be jailed. Labour are also reported to be calling for a review of knife sentencing guidelines that are to come into force sometime next month.

Westmonster couldn't help but notice the similarities between Cameron's new ideas and those that are being petitioned for by the News of The World, the Sun's Sunday sister paper. It seems that Cameron and the Murdoch papers are in complete agreement regarding the ways that we should deal with knife crime. But is this just another case of Cameron's ingratiating pandering to the masses, or does he genuinely care about the issue?

During the interview Cameron stated that the current policy of automatically assuming that people who carry knives will be prosecuted did not go far enough. Along with a reviewing of these ideas, Cameron would also like to see more power in the hands of MPs when it comes to sentencing, which would require a reform of the Sentencing Guidelines Council.

"We have to send the strongest possible message that carrying a knife is completely unacceptable in Britain, end of subject. The government should say not just there is a presumption you will be prosecuted if you carry a knife, but that there will be a presumption you will go to jail. It is not a minor offence. There is no excuse for carrying a knife when you walk out of your door."

People who have a reasonable excuse for carrying a knife should be able to get away with it. The example that Mr Cameron gave was that of people needing a pen-knife to go angling.

"This is about kitchen knives stuffed down the front of tracksuits," he said, "Sometimes people wrongly think it's a defensive move. It's the stupidest thing in the world. Many people end up being killed with the knife they took out for protection."

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 7 Jul 2008 3:12 PM. Permalink