London's woken up to knife crime – we've had it all along

CONSERVATIVE leader David Cameron yesterday used the platform of the Glasgow East by-election to talk tough on knife crime, calling for anyone caught carrying a knife without a good excuse to be sent to prison.

But on a carefully stage-managed day where he spoke only to a few hand-picked Glaswegians away from the main media glare, Mr Cameron was accused of belatedly waking up to a problem that has troubled Scotland for many years.

A Labour MSP said the Tory leader was simply reacting to the recent spate of knife crimes in London.

And a hospital consultant told The Scotsman that knife crime had become "so common" in the west of Scotland that people hardly took notice when it claimed another life. Dr Rudy Crawford said the "upsurge" in stabbings in parts of England was bringing knife crime towards levels that Scotland had been experiencing for more than two decades.

The normality of knife crime north of Border meant that life had become "cheap", said Dr Crawford, an accident-and-emergency consultant at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Speaking at the launch of his party's campaign in the Glasgow East contest, which he described as "the broken society by-election", Mr Cameron said: "We are proposing that anyone convicted of knife crime should expect to go to jail.

"I don't believe that the government's 'presumption to prosecute' is enough. It doesn't send a strong enough signal. We need a 'presumption to prison'."

The announcement reflected a message that appeared to be talking over the heads of the people of Glasgow East, addressing issues such as crime, for which Holyrood, not Westminster, has responsibility in Scotland.

Glasgow Springburn MSP Paul Martin said knife crime had only come on to Mr Cameron's radar because it had become an issue in London, especially after 16-year-old Ben Kinsella was stabbed to death in Holloway.

"David Cameron claims he wants to be tough on knife crime and yet time and again he has opposed Labour's tough measures," Mr Martin said.

"The Conservatives in Westminster have consistently voted soft on law and order – including voting against tougher sentences for murder, sexual and violent offences, against five-year minimum sentences for carrying an illegal gun and against giving the police more powers to take DNA from suspects."

Mr Cameron was in Glasgow East to launch the campaign of his party's candidate, Davena Rankin, a single mother and trade unionist.

He met members of the Gallowgate Family Support Centre, but away from the media glare, and he did not go on a walk about.

He was accompanied by the former leader Iain Duncan Smith, who used the East End of Glasgow as part of the research for his document on solving the problems of a "broken society".

The locals were left unimpressed, with one woman commenting about Mr Cameron: "He's a nice laddie all right, but he's from a different planet."

Meanwhile, Westminster Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced that the UK government would review knife-sentencing guidelines that come into force south of the Border in less than a month.

The Sentencing Guidelines Council has published advice to magistrates that says knife possession can be punished by a fine in the least serious cases, such as when the weapon has not been used to threaten.

The call for tougher sentences for people convicted of knife crime clashes with growing calls from within and outside the Scottish Government for a massive reduction in the number of offenders sent to prison.

The issue of knife crime has been thrust to the top of the political agenda following the killings of 19 teenagers in the UK capital so far this year.

Dr Crawford told The Scotsman parts of England were "waking up" to the same problem of knife crime that communities in Scotland have long suffered.

Last year, 40 of the 73 murders in the Strathclyde Police area involved knives – and knife crime rates in Scotland remain about three times higher than those of England or Wales.

"England is experiencing a sudden upsurge in knife crime but we have been struggling with this problem for more than 20 years," Dr Crawford said.

"They're only just beginning to come to some sort of conclusions that we've been facing for a long time.

"The knife crime situation in Scotland hasn't really changed – it's been much higher than the rest of the UK per head of population."

Highlighting what he regards as a lower level of media and public attention on knife crime, Dr Crawford said: "Life is regarded as relatively cheap in parts of Scotland, particularly the west, predominantly because it happens in deprived communities."

He added: "It's hard to get reliable data, but if you look over the year, we probably average about two or three (knife assaults] a day, of which two or three a week will be serious or life threatening."

Salmond: We'll win poll on fuel costs

ALEX Salmond, the First Minister, predicted a "political earthquake" as he talked up his party's chances of defeating Labour in the by-election.

Launching the SNP's campaign, Mr Salmond declared his party was in a position to win – and if it did it would force Gordon Brown to change his policies on fuel tax.

"It will certainly be another nail in Gordon Brown's coffin," said Mr Salmond. "He'll change his fuel-tax policy and other unpopular policies that have brought Labour to this state of affairs before he changes himself."

Mr Salmond was in Glasgow to support the SNP candidate, John Mason, a Glasgow city councillor, and pointed out that Mr Mason got the largest popular vote of any councillor in last year's election.

The First Minister also said that Mr Mason would be "a full-time voice" for Glasgow East – unlike the Labour choice, Margaret Curran, who would remain an MSP. This drew criticism from Labour, as it was pointed out that Mr Salmond is an MP and MSP.

He dismissed the idea that he was fighting the election on the wrong issue – fuel costs – and should be concentrating on crime, a topic Labour and the Conservatives are pushing. In particular, they are claiming that 4,000 criminals will be released from prisons under SNP proposals.