Police to get powers to seize and destroy machetes and zombie knives in further crackdown
More “zombie-style” knives and machetes will be banned and the police will be given more powers to seize and destroy them, under plans announced by the Home Office.
A new offence will also be introduced for possessing bladed articles “with the intention to endanger life or cause fear of violence”.
The maximum sentence for the importation, manufacturing, possession and sale of the weapons will be two years, the Home Office announced.
The government said the measures, first proposed in April, will be legislated “when parliament allows” and after a public consultation has taken place.
The possession of so-called “zombie” knives, which the government defines as a blade with “a cutting edge, a serrated edge and images or words suggesting it is used for violence”, was made illegal in 2016.
Under the new measures, the Home Office said the definition of a zombie knife would be expanded to include any bladed weapon more than eight inches long with a plain-cutting edge and sharp pointed end that also has either a serrated cutting edge, more than one hole in the blade or multiple sharp points like spikes.
The government hopes the changes will close a loophole which has allowed some dangerous weapons to be sold without breaking the law by removing certain banned features.
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Recent figures revealed that the number of fatal stabbings in England and Wales was at its highest level since records began more than 76 years ago.
The Office for National Statistics said 282 homicides were committed using a knife or sharp instrument in the year to March 2022 – a 19% rise compared with the previous year and the highest annual total since records began in 1946.
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Pastor Lorraine Jones Burrell speaks passionately about police and knife crime.
Some 51 teenagers aged between 13 and 19 were among the victims.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the newly prohibited weapons “should have been banned years ago”.
“This is the sixth time in seven years that the Conservatives have promised to outlaw zombie knives,” she said.
“Yet even now they are still failing to close the loopholes that mean they can still be sold online. Time and again the Tories have been hopelessly weak and slow to tackle this serious and dangerous crime.”
Currently, the law stipulates that if police find a machete or other legal blade in somebody’s home they are not allowed to seize or act on it, even if they believe the knives could be used criminally.
But police will now be given new powers to seize and destroy knives found on private premises if there are “reasonable grounds to believe the blade will be used in a serious crime”, the Home Office confirmed.
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The Sentencing Council will also be asked to consider amending guidelines for the possession of bladed articles and offensive weapons so that these are treated more seriously than possession of non-prohibited weapons.
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The Minister said serious violence is down by 41% since 2010, but Chris Philp says there is ‘a lot more to do’.
Some machetes and similar knives can have “legitimate uses”, such as for gardening, but the Home Office warned criminals are “buying, selling and using larger bladed articles as weapons to intimidate and cause others serious harm”.
The department said specific exemptions will be made for “legitimate articles” such as objects of historical importance and those that are hand-made, in order to avoid negative effects on the antiques market.
Policing minister Chris Philp said the newly-prohibited weapons “serve no other purpose but to inflate criminal egos and endanger lives” and there is “no reason” to own them.
“That is why we are banning these knives and making sentencing more severe, so our communities can be reassured that this violent criminality will face the punishments they deserve, and lives will be saved,” he said.
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Politics
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
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Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
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The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
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