Actor Idris Elba has urged the federal government to right away ban machetes and so-called zombie knives, saying it is “time to push the agenda as strongly as we can”.
The Luther star has launched a marketing campaign known as Don’t Stop Your Future, and advised Sky News that “the nation wants to see that we do care about our youth”.
“We’re seeing a rise not a decline and that needs to change,” Elba stated.
“What [a ban] will symbolically say is that our society has no tolerance for it,” the actor added, urging the federal government to “put it at the absolute forefront” of the legislative agenda.
Elba can also be lobbying for extra funding in youth companies and is releasing a tune titled Knives Down in an effort to sort out critical youth violence throughout the UK.
He has urged the federal government to convene a cross-party, cross-governmental working group that brings collectively stakeholders who’ve a job to play in tackling knife crime.
An set up of neatly folded outfits, every representing somebody who has died via knife crime on UK streets, can also be on show in Parliament Square in central London.
The Home Office stated in August 2023 that more durable measures on machetes and zombie-style knives can be launched.
But Parliament has been sluggish to go new laws, with a number of extra assaults occurring since – together with the killing of schoolgirl Elianne Andam.
The 15-year-old was stabbed to demise on her solution to faculty in Croydon, south London, in September with what was believed to be a big zombie knife.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged together with her homicide.
Patrick Green, chief govt of anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, stated: “Idris’s Don’t Stop Your Future campaign is a vital and much-needed intervention to shine a spotlight on serious youth violence, which has been neglected for too long.
“It’s horrifying that hardly a day goes by with out the tragic information of somebody being harm, maimed, and even killed with a machete or zombie knife.”
Watch the complete interview with Idris Elba on UK Tonight on Sky News at 8pm
Source: information.sky.com”