Gordon Brown calls on Britain to rally against knife crime

Gordon Brown yesterday called on Britain to rally against knife crime calling it "the biggest problem" in our cities.

He told crime writer Ian Rankin - who he has said is his favourite novelist - that the Government cannot tackle the problem alone.

Speaking at the opening of the Edinburgh International Book - Festival, the Prime Minister said: "Young people think it's acceptable, fashionable, necessary for them to carry a knife.

"But just like we made guns unacceptable, we should make knives unacceptable. Not just young people but parents and other people must say that knives, like guns, like bullying, like racism, are unacceptable.