Labour leader Iain Gray has called on rival parties to back mandatory six-month jail sentences for anyone caught carrying a knife.
His party lodged amendments to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill at Holyrood yesterday to enable this. “Labour today is making it clear that if you carry a knife you should go to jail,” Mr Gray said.
He was joined in Edinburgh yesterday morning by anti-knife campaigner John Muir, whose son, Damian, 34, was killed in a knife attack in Greenock three years ago.
Mr Muir has since campaigned for automatic jail sentences for anyone caught carrying a knife.
“Anyone who disregards moves to toughen the sentencing laws on knife crime will be seen by the public as having victims’ blood on their hands,” Mr Muir said.
The pair visited Craigmillar Settlement community centre and met young people who had received “knife education”.
Mr Gray said: “There needs to be a consistent approach, and certainty that unless there are exceptional circumstance those who carry knives will face a prison sentence.”
The amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill is modelled on firearms law and states that the courts will be compelled to give custodial sentences for knife criminals unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The Conservatives said Labour’s plans were “woefully inadequate”.
Community safety spokesman John Lamont said: “Knife crime reached epidemic proportions when Labour was in government in Scotland. It is too bad that it has taken Labour so long to realise that there was a problem and that urgent action was required.
“However, although we do welcome their conversion to our policy. Labour’s plans are woefully inadequate.”
Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown said sentencing should be left in the hands of judges.
“Taking away the discretion of judges, as Labour seeks to do, is entirely the wrong way to go about eradicating the scourge of knife crime,” he said.
“Communities want to feel safe from knives but short-term prison sentences simply don’t work as a deterrent. Indeed, it is widely recognised that many prisoners come out worse than when they went in.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the Scottish Government is taking “tough action on those who carry and use knives”.
He added: “We’ve seen jail terms for knife-carrying increase by a third, and I have made it clear that those who use a knife should expect to go to jail.”
One of the proposals in the government’s Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill is to create a sentencing council.
Ministers argue that having such a body to consider sentencing would be more appropriate.
Mr MacAskill has previously said he would not be unhappy if a sentencing council decided it should be presumed that a person will go to prison if they are found carrying a knife.
He spoke about other measures from the SNP administration, stating: “The Scottish Government are also working to change the culture around violence in Scotland. Our award-winning No Knives, Better Lives initiative is working directly with young people to explain the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife.”