North West is country's knife capital

New figures show that the North West has the highest number of serious injury caused by knives, daggers and swords in England.

The region’s deadly knife crime culture was shown in statistics from the North West Strategic Health Authority, which also show that the region has the second highest rate of admissions due to assaults with a sharp object in England, behind only London.

They show that in the North West there were three children under 10 admitted to hospital after being assaulted with a sharp object. In the 10-15 age group there were 24, aged 16-18 there were 135, aged 19 to 25 there were 293 and for those aged over 26 there were 507.

Elwyn Watkins, Rochdale Councillor and Parliamentary Spokesperson for Oldham East and Saddleworth, which includes Milnrow and Newhey, said: “We are locked in a vicious circle where teenagers don’t feel safe on our streets and therefore more of them carry knives.

“Instead of spending billions on ID cards, the Government should spend the money on actually making people safer by putting more police on our streets.”