Local MP Teams up With Retired Judge to Change Law on Knives

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Andy Slaughter wants to restrict sales of pointed blades

Andy Slaughter (left) with Nic Madge (centre) and Emily Thornberry. Picture: Society of Labour Lawyers

June 16, 2025

Hammersmith and Chiswick MP, Andy Slaughter, has teamed up with retired judge Nic Madge in an attempt to get changes made in the laws relating to knives.

They are seeking a ban on the delivery of pointed kitchen knives to domestic premises or unsupervised lockers/remote delivery points. They also want to ban the display of pointed kitchen knives in shops.

Mr Slaughter, the Chair of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, intends to move the amendments drafted by Nic Madge in the debate on the Crime and Policing Bill on 17 and 18 June.

They are both members of the Safer Knives Group and are proposing the changes in the light of figures which show that two people are killed using kitchen knives in this country every week and in homicides committed using a pointed weapon, over half of the weapons are kitchen knives.

Nothing in the amendments would prevent the delivery of pointed knives to chefs, butchers, fishmongers or any other commercial enterprise that uses pointed knives. The amendment will not prevent the delivery to business premises – so anyone wanting to buy a pointed knife by mail order will still be able to do so but will have to pick up the knife in-store where effective age verification can take place and purchasers can be seen on cctv.

Safer rounded knives could continue to be openly displayed in shops and delivered by courier or mail with the current legal restrictions.

Research from De Montford University shows that it is the points of knives that kill. Rounded knives may injure, but they do not penetrate clothing, let alone arteries or vital organs.

Nic Madge, who as a retired circuit judge presided over many trials involving serious violence. said, “The murder weapon used in the Southport killings was a pointed kitchen knife which was delivered to the killer’s home by Amazon. The Dunblane killings were pivotal in changing the law to restrict gun sales. In the same way, the Southport killings should be pivotal in changing the law to restrict knife sales.

“Knife crime is a complex issue. There is no single, simple solution, but promoting a public health approach to the design of kitchen knives would be an important step to reduce the harm caused by knives. Too often pointed knives are the closest weapon to hand. I saw too many court cases where boys took kitchen knives from their mothers’ drawers without thinking or a family member grabbed a knife during a domestic argument. It is so easy for these instant decisions to have fatal or life changing consequences.”

Andy Slaughter added, “This is an opportunity to change the law to restrict access to pointed kitchen knives, the most lethal killer whether in gang violence or domestic homicides. It has been shown time and again that restricting access to dangerous weapons reduces the risk of death and serious harm. This is the right time to make these changes which will save lives.”

The amendments NC 23 and 24. are printed in the House of Commons Amendment Paper.

 

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