The External Affairs team

Ninja swords banned by summer as manifesto commitment delivered

In a further move to break the cycle of young people carrying knives and to better protect the public from knife-related crime, from 1 August, ninja swords will be banned. This will make it illegal to possess, manufacture, import or sell these deadly weapons.

Ahead of the ban coming into place, the government, in partnership with law enforcement and members of the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, will run its most ambitious surrender scheme yet. The scheme will run across the country, targeting young people most vulnerable to knife crime. 

The surrender scheme will run from 1 to 31 July to allow any member of the public to hand in these weapons safely.

Read more here.

Places of worship to be protected from intimidating protests

Places of worship will be better protected from intimidatory protests under new powers being given to police.

The new measures, which will be included as an amendment in the government’s landmark Crime and Policing Bill, will protect synagogues, mosques, churches and other religious sites from intimidating levels of disruption caused by protest activity. 

Read more here.

More funding to combat rural and wildlife crime

Rural communities will be better protected from the scourge of crimes such as equipment theft, livestock theft and hare coursing which can devastate countryside communities, farming and wildlife, through a funding boost to dedicated police units.

The National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit will receive over £800,000 to continue their work tackling rural and wildlife crime, which can pose unique challenges for policing given the scale and isolation of rural areas.

Funding to the National Rural Crime Unit will enable the unit to continue to increase collaboration across police forces, harnessing the latest technology and data to target the serious organised crime groups involved in crimes like equipment theft from farms.

Read more here.

Lord Hanson unveils ambitious new approach to tackling fraud

Fraud Minister announced new, expanded fraud strategy will be published later this year, as part of the government’s Plan for Change.

Read more here.

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