Conservative MP says young people should 'get fitter' to protect against knife crime

Young people who are vulnerable to knife crime could “get fitter” so they can protect themselves from violence, a Conservative MP has claimed.

Veteran backbencher Sir Christopher Chope suggested teenagers could learn martial arts such as judo or taekwondo to help them avoid becoming victims of knife violence and to dissuade them from carrying weapons.

His comments to police chiefs at the Home Affairs Committee come amid an outcry over a spate of fatal stabbings of young people, and as knife and weapon offences soared to the highest level in nearly a decade.

Official figures show almost 21,500 crimes were dealt with by the criminal justice system in England and Wales last year - the largest number since 2009.

Speaking during a committee hearing, Sir Christopher said: “One of the ways in which people can be prepared is by, for example, doing judo, taekwondo, being physically able and taught how to deal with a situation where you are threatened with a knife.

“Do you think there is something to be said for increasing the encouragement for young people, so they don’t have to take a knife out?

“They can protect themselves by actually knowing how to deal with such an incident, were it to arise.”

Dave Thompson, chief constable of West Midlands Police, told him that the best knife prevention technique is “to run away as fast as you can” and urged people to avoid confrontation.

Sir Christopher, who previously came under fire for blocking legislation to ban upskirting, interjected: “You need to be fit to do that.”

Mr Thompson tried to steer away from teaching martial arts to “improve street-based combat skills” but agreed that activities like boxing can take young people off the streets and build confidence.

But the Christchurch MP replied: “If they say I’m carrying a knife to protect myself, an alternative to that is to protect yourself by actually being fitter and more able to deal with that sort of attack.

“In same way as a lot of young women are taught how to deal with men who get violent or threatening towards them.”

Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said activities could help “stop them getting into trouble” in the first place, but that Sir Christopher’s idea was among hundreds of different strategies to curb knife violence.

It comes after Tory MP Scott Mann was ridiculed for suggesting every knife sold in the UK should be fitted with a GPS tracker in the handle to curb rising levels of violence.

The North Cornwall MP wrote on Twitter: “It’s time we had a national database like we do with guns. If you’re carrying it around you had better have a bloody good explanation, obvious exemptions for fishing etc.”