Police minister Dame Diana Johnson admitted on Friday that “there is a lot of knife crime in London”.
She was highlighting a series of initiatives in knife crime hotspots across the country to reduce the number of offences.
Asked to list the seven key areas, she told LBC Radio: “We have got the Metropolitan Police obviously because there is a lot of knife crime in London.”
She praised the force for action to stop pupils on their way to or from school from having their mobile phones stolen at knife point.
The Home Office published data showing robberies involving a knife, or the threat of one, have fallen in most of the UK’s high-risk areas.
A dedicated police taskforce was set up last October on seven forces; the Met, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Avon and Somerset and British Transport Police.
These areas had seen a steep rise in incidents between July 2023 and June 2024, accounting for 70% of knife-enabled robbery at the time.
Drones, knife arches and detection dogs are among tactics used to bring down the number of incidents, with the forces also increasing visible patrols and the number of plain clothes officers on the streets.
The West Midlands saw the largest drop, with a 25% reduction in incidents in the year to June 2025.
The Met saw a two per cent fall but Greater Manchester saw a 4% increase.
Separate figures published recently by the Office for National Statistics showed knife crime in London increased by nine per cent in the year to March, with the capital now accounting for almost a third of all knife attacks in England and Wales.
A total of 16,344 knife crimes were recorded by the Met police and City of London police in the 12-month period, compared with 14,939 in the previous year.
Commander Hayley Sewart, the Met's lead for tackling knife crime, stressed: “Tackling violence remains a top priority for the Met, and we know reducing knife crime requires the collective effort of policing, local partners, charities and our communities.
“The Met has already seen success – with 16 per cent fewer knife-related crimes and a 12.8 per cent reduction in robbery offences.
“We’ve achieved this – as well as the lowest homicide rate in five years - by targeting the most dangerous criminals and safeguarding vulnerable young people who are at risk of criminal exploitation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the 6% overall annual reduction in knife-enabled robbery incidents in the seven areas was a direct result of targeted police action.
“The drop in knife-enabled robbery in key problem areas shows the impact that our strong new action on knife crime is having, but we now need to supercharge these efforts through more smart and targeted interventions,” she added.
The Home Office said a “surrender van”, for knives, will be deployed at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival.
But shadow home secretary Chris Philp, MP for Croydon South, said knife crime was “spiralling out of control” and accused Labour of not wanting to talk about offences in London and the "utter failure of Sadiq Khan to tackle crime".
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: “Sadiq has doubled his annual investment in the Met police from City Hall and will continue to invest record amounts in policing, to build on progress that has been achieved in London, with the number of young people being injured with a knife, homicides, gun crime with lethal barrel discharges and burglary all down since 2016.”
Meanwhie, a ban on ninja swords also comes into force on Friday, as the Government seeks to halve knife crime in a decade.
At least a thousand of the weapons have been handed in as part of a surrender scheme.
The Government has also pledged to tackle the sale of weapons online, as part of Ronan’s Law, which was introduced following the death of 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was murdered in Wolverhampton, in a case of mistaken identity, with a ninja sword bought online.
This would require retailers to report bulk or suspicious knife orders to the police, put in place more stringent age-verification checks and impose significant fines on tech executives whose platforms fail to prevent illegal sales.
Ronan’s mother Pooja Kanda, said: “Ronan was just 16 years old when his life was stolen by a 22-inch ninja sword that should never have been so easy to buy. Ronan’s Law is not only a step towards justice for my son, but for every parent who wants to see their child come home safely.”
