Stephen Morgan MP has joined the Committee on the Offensive Weapons Bill.
The MP for Portsmouth South will work with Parliamentary colleagues to scrutinise and improve the legislation before it reaches its final stages in the House.
The Bill will:
- Prohibit the possession and sale of certain corrosive substances
- Strengthen the arrangements for the online sale of bladed articles and corrosive products
- Prohibit the possession of certain offensive weapons
- Prohibit the possession of certain firearms
Serious violent offences involving knives, corrosives and firearms have risen across England.
In 2017, there was a 22 per cent increase in offences involving knives/sharp instruments and the between 2012/13 and 2016/17 the number of recorded corrosive substance attacks increased from 183 to 504.
There is increasing public concern about the use of acid as a weapon. Crime has risen by 10% in Portsmouth at a time when a thousand police officers have been cut from the Constabulary, which has already lost £28 million.
Stephen Morgan MP, said:
“I’ll be working with colleagues to make sure this important Bill is as effective as possible in reversing the horrendous rise in violent offences we’ve seen in Portsmouth and across England.
Acid attacks and knife crime continuing to blight our communities. With drastic cuts to policing, we can’t afford to miss this opportunity to make legislation more effective in assisting officers in their work.
Stephen added:
“I’m concerned that, currently, the proposed legislation put new burdens on public authorities but no new funding to allow them to discharge them.
I hope to iron this out as we progress.”
