Allowing use of pepper spray to deter knife attacks ‘merits real consideration’ says Shadow Home Secretary

SHADOW Home Secretary Chris Philp has said that legalising the use of pepper spray in self-defence could deter knife attacks and “merits real consideration”.

He told GB News: “That’s quite an interesting idea, to allow people to carry some form of pepper spray, as I think in other countries, like the USA, it is allowed.

“Obviously, you’d have to be clear that using it would only be permissible in self-defence and you’d have to make sure that the spray didn’t cause any lasting damage.

“But you know what? It’s not a bad idea and I think it merits real consideration.

“I know particularly women would probably feel a bit safer, if they knew they had something like that to protect themselves with.”

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He also called for the police to increase the use of stop and search: “The use of stop and search has declined a lot recently, particularly in London under Sadiq Khan.

“In London, I think stop and search has gone down by something like 60% and at the same time, during Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty, at the same time knife crime in London is up by 86%.

“It’s a political hot potato we need to grasp, because stop and search takes knives off the streets. I was talking to Mark Rowley, the [Metropolitan Police] Commissioner, a little while ago, a few years ago, he was telling me it took 400 knives a month off the streets of London.

“On the question of disproportionality, if you measure the proportionality of stop and search and compare it to the offending population, and indeed, the population of people who are victims of knife crime, the disproportionality disappears if you look at the success rate of stop and search, so the percentage of stop and search is resulting in knives or drugs being found.

“In London about 30% of stop and searches find something and that 30% figure, it’s about the same, give or take a percent, across all different groups.

“Now, if a particular group were getting unfairly picked on, you’d expect that percentage to be lower, but it’s not. It’s about the same. So I don’t think it’s being used unfairly.

“If police officers or if politicians like Sadiq Khan or left-wing politicians hold back from stop and search, it leaves more knives on the street and it puts lives at risk.”