Starmer pledges knife crime action after No 10 summit

The actor, whose Elba Hope Foundation is part of the new anti-knife crime coalition, said it was important to hear from all those touched by violent crime so there could be “joined-up thinking” and perspectives including parents, teachers and youth workers.

He said: “There’s been a lot of talk, there’s a lot of emotion around it, but the truth is that room was a coalition of thinkers that all have the same goal and it was a really positive step in the right direction.”

He added the first steps would be to try to tackle “low-hanging fruit” like online sales of blades, and stressed he had a personal interest.

“We aren’t going to end knife crime – we can’t, that’s not realistic – but we can tackle the attributes towards it,” he said.

“At the centre of it is obviously young people – my son’s 10, and I’m hoping the work that we do annually, keep pushing, [can] help him by the time he’s 16.

“There are kids right now that are 16 to 24, they’re in that cycle right now that we might not be able to help, but with our joined-up thinking we can help future generations.”