UK must make it harder to buy knives online to prevent repeat of Southport killings, PM tells LBC

6 February 2025, 15:33 | Updated: 6 February 2025, 16:06

Sir Keir Starmer has told LBC News there needs to be tighter laws around accessing knives as well as a cultural shift if Britain is to avoid a repeat of the Southport killings.

Speaking at the unveiling of Britain’s largest nuclear power expansion in decades, the PM said the only way to prevent repeats of the killings in Southport and Sheffield is to limit access to knives and encourage a deeper cultural change.

It comes after it was found the Prevent counter-extremism programme wrongly concluded Southport killer Axel Rudakubana posed no threat despite clear evidence to the contrary.

Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in jail for the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, when Rudakubana launched his attack in July last year.

Read more: Police will get extra powers to speed up search warrants in clampdown on soaring mobile phone thefts

Prior to his killing spree, the teenager had been referred to Prevent on three separate occasions - with no further action being taken at any point.

Starmer told LBC: “We’ve got to reach into our schools and our communities and identify young people who beginning to go off the rails and get them out and support them.

“I accept the fact that we can’t solve this just at the point where someone might buy a knife, we need to get in much earlier than that.

“I do also think we need to restrict access to knives online, I don’t think it should be as easy as it is now to dispatch a knife to a post office for a teenager to pick up - that should not be happening.

“We have to get in earlier and there has to be clearly consequences for those carrying knives, it's too inconsistent.”

“In terms of Southport… I want to work with the victims and families to hear from them what their sense is of what needs to change.”

Earlier on Thursday, The Home Secretary told LBC she would support schools bringing in knife arches to stop children from carrying blades.

Her comments come as figures obtained by LBC show a rising number of girls carrying knives.

Yvette Cooper said it is too easy for young people to buy knives online.

Home Secretary admits she doesn't know the full Southport story

She said: “We also need much broader action on preventing young people carrying knives in the first place.

“A lot of the attacks we’ve seen have been after school, evenings, children on a bus, in the street - in town centres.”

She also said she wants tougher penalties for children caught with knives - describing instances where children were simply made to write an apology letter.

Ms Cooper said there was a need for "proper intervention" to tackle knife crime.

She said: "Do not carry a knife. It's dangerous, illegal, and makes violence worse"

The Government has accepted all 14 recommendations made by the review into Rudakubana and pledged to "get Prevent right" in the wake of the tragedy in Southport.

Home Office minister Dan Jarvis told the Commons: "We must get Prevent right. That is why the Home Office and counter-terrorism policing commissioned a rapid Prevent learning review immediately after the attack.

"These are usually internal technical reviews intended to identify swift learning and improvement for Prevent but the importance of the families needing answers has meant that today, following close engagement with the families, we are taking the unusual step of publishing the Prevent learning review.

"I can update the House that the perpetrator was referred to Prevent three times between December 2019 when he was aged 13 and April 2021 when he was 14. Those referrals were made by his schools.

"The first referral reported concerns about him carrying a knife and searching for school shootings on the internet. The second referral was focused on his online activity relating to Libya and Gaddafi. His third referral was for searching for London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

"On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the channel multi-agency process. But the Prevent learning review found that there was sufficient risk for the perpetrator to have been managed through Prevent.

"It found that the referral was closed prematurely, and there was sufficient concern to keep the case active while further information was collected."

Ending his statement in the House of Commons, the security minister told MPs: "While we can never undo the hurt and pain caused by this unthinkably wretched attack, we can, we must, and we will do everything in our power to prevent further atrocities.

"As the Prime Minister said, Southport must be a line in the sand for our country. If that means asking difficult questions about shortcomings or failings, so be it.

"If it means holding institutions and processes to account, we will do so without fear or favour.

"And if changes are required to protect the public and combat the threats that we face, then this Government will not hesitate to act."