Keir Starmer on Dorset knife crime and hospitality struggles

Last week Sir Keir set out his party's five ‘missions’ linked to crime and policing, including halving knife crime.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, he said the prevalence of knives in public was a “real concern” for communities, with an alarming number of young people carrying blades.

Sir Keir said work to address the problem included more police officers patrolling in neighbourhoods, mental health support in schools and a new specific criminal offence aimed at tackling children being used by gangs flooding communities with drugs.

“All these measures have to be taken in Dorset and across Bournemouth in the same way we’d do in our city centres, but a lot of that is likely to be driven by county lines and that is why a specific offence of grooming is important to get to grips with this," Sir Keir said.

“But we can no longer think of this as a city centre problem, it is sadly a problem across Dorset and other places.

“For young people it is not just those that start carrying knives, which is really shocking for families and communities, really, really shocking. It is also the fear of many other young people about their own safety because whether or not they are a victim of a particular incident, the fear is huge and really impacts on young people across Bournemouth.”

Sir Keir highlighted the court case of Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, the 21-year-old asylum seeker who in January was found guilty of murdering 21-year-old Tom Roberts in a Bournemouth town centre stabbing last year.

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai (Image: Dorset Police)

Bournemouth’s Conservative MPs have called for an inquiry into the background of the case after it came to light Abdulrahimzai had been convicted of a double murder in Serbia before he travelled to the UK.

Asked how important it was for authority failings to be addressed, Sir Keir said: “It has to lead to real change. I can only imagine what the family and friends and the community of the young victim are going through.

“We owe it to them to bring about fundamental change, not just a sticking plaster as a quick fix for the here and now but something which is much more fundamental because it is such a shocking a case, the whole community will want a more joined up response to that.”

Discussing the key Bournemouth industry of hospitality and tourism, Sir Keir said it had been “a really tough couple of years”.

He added that the issue of sewage being discharged into the sea and red flags being on beaches was compounding the problems.

“Hospitality has been particularly up against it,” Sir Keir said.

“I do think there are things we can do pretty quickly. The first is to get rid of business rates and have a fairer rate for those businesses, particularly in the high streets, and for hospitality that would be greatly, greatly welcomed.

“Obviously we need to turn the economy around. All the time there is a cost of living crisis going on then the net result is people less likely to go out for a meal, go for a holiday.

"That directly impacts on tourism, on hospitality, so we have to get the local economy powered up and turned around, which is what we would do as a Labour government."

He added: “There is also the sewage problem. I was on holiday with my family in the south west in 2021 and came across to Bournemouth to enjoy the beach only to see all the red flags up saying ‘you can’t go in the water’.

“You can see the impact that has because those beaches are the crown jewels really and if the government is running such a bad show that sewage is going into the water then it is an inhibitor again for getting people into Bournemouth and then that will have a knock on effect on hospitality and make a bad situation even worse.”