Opposition press Government on Prime Minister's knife crime summit

In the wake of a number of fatal knife attacks, and pressure from MPs to respond, the Prime Minister said she would hold an emergency summit at 10 Downing Street. She said she would;

"bring together Ministers, community leaders, agencies and others, and I will also be meeting the victims of these appalling crimes to listen to their stories and explore what more we can do as a whole society to tackle this problem."

Louise Haigh asked for an update on the promised summit, and said;

"Just this week, the former Chief Inspector of the Constabulary laid bare the Government's failing response to violent crime. He said the Home Office's flagship response to serious violence - their Serious Violence Strategy - was, and I quote, 'really, really inadequate, and is more concerned with its narrative, and less with action [...] The layer of police protection that can guard against surges in knife crime has been breached because there are too few officers to patrol neighbourhoods'."

Responding for the Government, Victoria Atkins, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department said.

"The event will champion a whole community public health model, which is critical if we are to address the root causes of youth violence, as well as disrupt it in our neighbourhoods and local communities […] I am pleased to confirm that the summit will take place in the week commencing 1 April"

• Watch Parliament TV: urgent question on the Prime Minister's knife crime summit
• Read Commons Hansard: emergency knife crime summit
• Read Commons Library briefing on knives and offensive weapons

Image: Thomas Nugent via Geograph

Follow the @HouseofCommons on Twitter for updates on the UK House of Commons Chamber. Please fill in our quick feedback survey to help us improve our news content.