The UK government is consulting on proposals to introduce a licensing scheme for all sales of knives and bladed articles.
The Countryside Alliance will always support measures that will make a genuine improvement to public safety, and we fully support robust action to tackle knife crime. These proposals, however, risk imposing sweeping, disproportionate regulation on legitimate rural businesses and individuals without clear evidence that they will improve public safety.
The central problem is not the lawful sale of knives: it is ensuring that knives do not fall into the wrong hands. There is already extensive legislation governing knife sales, with further measures currently before Parliament in the Crime and Policing Bill. The priority should be better education about existing restrictions and meaningful enforcement of the law – not layering on a new licensing regime.
Under the proposals, businesses and potentially even private individuals selling knives would require a police-issued licence, subject to suitability checks, fees and ongoing conditions. Licences could be revoked in case of breaches of conditions, and renewal fees would apply. Import licensing is also being considered.
The proposal would capture thousands of legitimate sellers across rural Britain: agricultural merchants, country stores, garden centres, ironmongers, auction houses and antique dealers, as well as those whose primary business is selling knives. The administrative burden would be significant and the cost passed on to consumers. Yet those already willing to break the law are unlikely to apply for a licence in the first place.
We are particularly concerned that Registered Firearms Dealers (RFDs), who are already subject to stringent regulation and inspection, could be forced to obtain a separate licence to sell knives. This would add bureaucracy and cost without delivering any obvious improvement in public safety.
The government suggests the police would administer the scheme via existing firearms licensing departments. Many of these departments are already under strain. Expanding their remit to include knife sales licensing would risk compounding delays and diverting resources from frontline policing.
Crucially, domestic kitchen knives – already present in virtually every household – are used in the majority of homicides involving sharp instruments. It is far from clear how licensing legitimate retailers would reduce criminal misuse. Furthermore, private individuals selling a knife as a one-off should not face a complex regulatory hurdle, nor should someone importing a knife for personal use be treated as a commercial operator.
We believe the government should prioritise education, targeted enforcement and proper resourcing of existing laws before introducing a costly and burdensome new licensing system.
You can read our full consultation response here. If you would like to submit a response of your own, please do so here by selecting ‘Respond online’, although owing to limitations in the response form we submitted ours separately by email. The consultation closes on 24 February.