Mayor says Government has let down young people with failure to follow through with zombie knives ban

• Mayor Sadiq Khan warns that the Government’s failure to deliver the Criminal Justice Bill and ban zombie knives once and for all is crucial missed opportunity to protect young people and communities from dangerous weapons.   
• The decision by the Government comes after the Mayor had written to the Home Secretary earlier this year, calling for him to put an end to unacceptable delays to the legislation and urgently bring forward tougher laws that will ban the blades and close loopholes to prevent their sale.
• Failure to follow through with Bill also means that key legislation improving the Criminal Justice System for victims of crime will also not go through.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has warned that the Government’s failure to deliver the Criminal Justice Bill and ban zombie knives once and for all, is a crucial missed opportunity to protect young people and communities from dangerous weapons and break through a significant barrier towards driving down violence.  

The failure by the Government comes after the Mayor had written to the Home Secretary earlier this year^[1], calling for him to put an end to unacceptable delays to the legislation and urgently bring forward tougher laws that will ban the blades and close loopholes to prevent their sale. But as of today, the dangerous weapons are still available to purchase cheaply and legally online, with no legislation in place – meaning a lottery ticket continues to be harder to buy^[2].  

The Mayor today labelled the Government’s failure to pass legislation as typifying their legacy of dither, delay and inaction. Plans have been outlined to ban the blades since 2016, but none of the eight Home Secretaries since then - Theresa May, Amber Rudd, Sajid Javid, Priti Patel, Suella Braverman, Grant Shapps, Suella Braverman again and James Cleverly – have delivered, despite repeated announcements to ban them. Meanwhile, the Government increased the age for buying lottery tickets in 2021 following a consultation in 2019.

The Mayor has made clear that despite this failure in leadership on tackling violent crime nationally, he will continue to do everything in his power to keep Londoners safe and work to prevent and reduce crime and violence in our city, including investing a record £151M in this year’s budget for policing and crime prevention and tackling the causes of crime.

But it’s clear that crime remains far too high in London and the Mayor is determined to continue being both tough on crime and tough on the complex causes of crime to bear down on violence in all its forms. That’s why he will be working in the months ahead to recruit an extra 1,300 police officers onto the streets and invest more in youth clubs^[3] – creating 250,000 positive opportunities for young Londoners to help steer them away from gangs and crime.

The decision by the Government means that not only will the tougher laws around zombie knives now not be introduced, vital legislation around keeping our neighbourhoods safe, introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals and improving public confidence in policing, will also now not go ahead^[4]. 

The Mayor supports and works closely with London’s Victims Commissioner, Claire Waxman, who has campaigned tirelessly for improvements in the criminal justice system for survivors and loved ones of victims. Claire has expressed her deep disappointment with the government on failing to deliver the much-needed changes promised in the Criminal Justice Bill that are needed to ensure that victims of crime get the full justice and protection that they deserve.

These changes include brand new legislation on suspending parental rights of convicted rapists – protecting victims and their children from dangerous criminals, compelling offenders to attend sentencing - providing loved ones of victims the full justice they deserve, and changes to the Sex offender register which would close a loophole to stop the ability of convicted rapists to change their names.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Government’s failure to deliver the Criminal Justice Bill is a betrayal of the safety of our young people and our communities. After years of delaying vital legislation that has allowed these dangerous weapons to continue being sold on our streets and having talked the talk about banning zombie-knives for years, they have failed to deliver on their promises. This typifies their legacy of dither, delay and inaction.

“I’m clear that one death at the hands of these weapons, is one too many, and earlier this year I wrote to the Home Secretary, urging a total ban on zombie-style knives and machetes once and for all. But its clear my calls, along with the voices of survivors, loved ones of victims and campaigners, have frustratingly fallen on deaf ears. The government are not taking this crisis seriously enough. These weapons have no other use than to cause maximum harm. They must be banned.

“While the government fails to take meaningful action to tackle violence, In London I’m doing everything in my power to keep Londoners safe and prevent and reduce crime and violence in our city, including investing a record £151M in this year’s budget for policing and crime prevention and tackling the causes of crime. From recruiting an extra 1,300 police officers to investing more in youth clubs, creating 250,000 positive opportunities for young Londoners to help steer them away from gangs and crime, I am determined to build a safer London for everyone.” 

London Victims Commissioner, Claire Waxman OBE, said: “The failure of the Government to follow through with the Criminal Justice Bill is a betrayal to everyone who has campaigned tirelessly to get victims of crime the justice they deserve, including many victims and families who have already been failed in the most unimaginable way by a justice system not fit for purpose.

“The Government refused to bring these much-needed changes into the Victims and Prisoners Bill which passed in the final hours of this Parliamentary term. Instead, they kicked their commitments into the long grass and made false promises to victims on a piece of legislation that now won’t see the light of day.

“These commitments included compelling offenders to attend their sentencing, a promise I saw the Government make to Farah Naz - Zara Aleena’s aunt, in a meeting, so that no other family would have to suffer in the way they had. The Government also made a concession to my calls to extend Jade’s Law and promised families that they would be stopping convicted rapists maintaining control over their children’s lives by suspending their parental rights. 

“Victims and families will feel that these hard-fought commitments have amounted to nothing. It is a terrible blow to all of us who continue to campaign for a better, fairer justice system. I urge the next Government to deliver these overdue commitments as quickly as possible.”

Ayse Hussein, cousin of Jan Mustafa , who campaigned with Claire Waxman, and other families calling on Government to bring offenders to sentencing said: “I am so disappointed and shocked to hear that the Criminal Justice Bill will no longer go ahead, grieving families including myself, have been campaigning non-stop to ensure offenders attend sentencing, so going forward without this happening means families will continue to suffer and the perpetrators can pick and choose if they want to attend court or not. This is not OK.”

Becky Booth, Chief Executive Officer at ‘We Stand’, supporting families impacted by child sexual abuse, said: “We have been advocating on behalf of our clients to keep children and their protective parents and carers safe from serious child sex offenders who maintain their parental responsibility and control of child(ren) following conviction.

“The government has missed multiple opportunities to provide the automatic protections needed for these vulnerable families, which is extremely disappointing for our clients who are often unable to speak out publicly on their own behalf.”