Knife crime deserves urgent action - Alex Cole-Hamilton
Before politics, I spent 19 years as a youth worker. I worked with children who had been exploited by drug gangs, let down by the care system or trapped in poverty.
I saw firsthand the difference that the right support can make to young people but I also saw the horrors that can happen when things spiral out of control.
In recent weeks convictions for the killings of Kayden Moy and John McNab have shocked Scotland and reignited a national conversation about knife crime.
Kayden was just 16 when he was murdered on Irvine Beach following a dispute between rival groups. John was 22 when he was stabbed to death in Leith by a teenager who was already on bail for a previous stabbing offence. I met with John’s mother Lisa and it was one of the hardest meetings I have taken in politics.
These crimes have left family, friends grieving and communities struggling to make sense of senseless violence.
They should also force us to ask a difficult question: how many young people have to die before the SNP government takes meaningful action?
Of course, there must be consequences for carrying and using knives. The public must have confidence that violent offenders are being dealt with appropriately. But that challenge is made harder when Scotland's prisons are already bursting at the seams after years of mismanagement.
If we are serious about reducing knife crime, we cannot simply focus on what happens after a stabbing. We have to stop young people picking up knives in the first place.
Too often, young people who are struggling are simply written off. If a child is disengaged from education, at risk of falling behind or being drawn into criminality, they should not be left to drift. They need someone to listen, someone who can help them find a different path.
That is why Scottish Liberal Democrats have campaigned for a Youth Work Bill that would create a legal entitlement to youth work and expand opportunities for young people across Scotland.
I know from my time in the sector that the best youth workers meet young people where they are, build trust and provide mentorship, guidance and hope. At a time when parents are worried about violence, persistent absence from school and poor mental health, that support has never been more important.
We know this approach works. Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit was established to tackle a wave of knife crime that once gave Glasgow the unwanted reputation of being Europe's murder capital. Through prevention, community engagement and early intervention, real progress was made.
But many of the community organisations that delivered that success were weakened during the pandemic. Years of funding pressures have left services stretched. Former gang members and youth workers alike are warning that we risk undoing years of progress.
Prevention must sit alongside practical measures. We want to see knives stored more securely in shops to reduce theft and misuse. Why do some shops still have security tags on blocks of cheese, but no similar anti-theft device on massive kitchen knives hanging on hooks in the middle of a shop floor?
We also support the efforts of John's mum Lisa to see bleed kits, placed in key locations, particularly alongside defibrillators in public spaces, so that lives can be saved in those critical moments before emergency services arrive.
There are no easy answers but accepting the status quo is not an option. Scotland owes it to the memories of Kayden Moy, John McNab and every victim of knife violence to act decisively.