The government made a commitment to banning ninja swords in its 2024 election manifesto, as part of the Labour Party's pledge to "take back our streets" through a knife crime action plan. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper later set out plans to crackdown on crime at the party's conference in 2024, when she said the government would attempt to halve knife offences in a decade. New data from the government revealed that the number of reported robberies involving a knife dropped by 6%, from 16,068 to 15,028, between June 2024 and June 2025. Ministers also announced an extra 5m would be made available for police and local authorities to try new, targeted actions on knife crime. The new money will be used for knife crime hotspots across the country, where targeted intervention tactics will be trialled, including facial recognition technology and the use of drones to support police officers on the streets.