Labour vows online ban of lethal weapons used to kill teens on Britain’s streets

Labour has said it would crack down on the online sale of lethal knives if it wins power next month, by introducing a law named for a teenager who was killed with a ninja sword.

Ronan’s Law would pay tribute to Ronan Kanda, who was just 16 when another teenager murdered him on the streets of Wolverhampton in 2022.

His killer had bought the deadly weapon online using his mother’s name and was able to pick it up without any process of ID verification.

Similar weapons were used in the deaths of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin in Hainault earlier this year and Shawn Seesahai, 19, who was murdered by two 12-year-olds in Wolverhampton last year.

Labour said the new law would include a comprehensive ban on possession of a wider range of dangerous knives, accompanied by an end-to-end review of online knife sales with tougher enforcement of ID checks.

Ninja swords, samurai swords, machetes and zombie knives would all be outlawed if the legislation goes ahead.

Pooja Kanda, Ronan’s mother, said: ‘I will never understand why the government have continuously disregarded numerous calls for a comprehensive ban on weapons that have no other purpose than to threaten, cause harm or kill.’

She added: ‘The availability of these weapons are fuelling a knife crime epidemic in this country.

‘I am therefore extremely grateful to the Labour Party for making us feel heard and adopting a significant ban as part of their commitment to tackling knife crime.

‘We truly believe that Ronan’s Law will make a key difference to many and although it cannot save our beautiful boy, we know that it can, and will, save the lives of many others.’

The Conservative government announced legislation to ban zombie-style knives and machetes in January, with the aim of plugging a loophole in a 2016 law that meant suppliers were able to simply redesign the weapons.

However, the effort hit a stumbling block in the House of Lords due to the difficulty in defining the blades in a way that was neither too broad – preventing the sale of useful equipment – nor too narrow, allowing suppliers to skirt the law again.

It is unclear how a renewed Labour effort to block the sales of the weapons would avoid these obstacles.

Party leader Keir Starmer said: ‘Ronan Kanda’s family have suffered the most unimaginable loss. Their campaign to make sure no family endures the same is remarkable.

‘If you are a family suffering from the indescribable grief of losing a child due to knife crime, you’re not going to care whether it’s a Labour or Conservative politician who takes action on the issue.

‘What you do want is a sense of resolve from political leaders that they take this issue seriously and want to do what they can to reduce knife crime.

‘I feel strongly about this. we have to work together to try to reduce knife crime. That’s why Labour will introduce Ronan’s Law and take strong action to ban online sales of machetes, zombie knives and ninja swords and put an end to knives being sold to children.’

Alistair Carmichael, the home affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said the Conservatives had ‘failed to keep our communities safe’ and that ‘more action is needed to stop knife crime.’

He added: ‘The British public deserves a government that does what actually works to prevent knife crime.

‘That means proper community policing – where officers are visible, trusted and known personally to local people – alongside good-quality youth services which treat the risk factors that lead young people to violence.’

The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment.

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