Government 'Out of Touch' on Gun and Knife Crime, says Christian Peoples Alliance

The leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance group on Newham Council, Cllr Alan Craig, has said that the Government is "out of touch" with the realities of gun and knife crime at the grassroots level in London and "has no solutions" to the recent spate of killings in the capital.

The fatal stabbing last Saturday of 15-year-old Adam Regis, nephew of Olympic sprinter John Regis, in east London was the latest in a number of killings involving youngsters to rock the city in the last few months.

Cllr Craig criticised the Government for trying to play the killings down as isolated events, saying that the blade and gun culture has been "growing under the surface", particularly among young black men.

According to Cllr Craig, many young boys do not want to carry knives but now feel the need to for self-protection.

"It is just going on, it's a vicious circle. So for the Government to say they are isolated incidents is simply spin, trying to deny reality," he told Christian Today.

He said that people in London's urban areas were "becoming increasingly desperate" about the rise in gun and knife crime but warned that throwing more money at the problem will not be enough to turn the situation around.

"In reality it's the churches that have got the relationships. The churches are at the grassroots and the churches are already out there doing things," he said.

"In the east of London we've got thriving churches out there doing good things with young people, and that needs affirming and encouraging."

Cllr Craig pointed to numerous faith-based initiatives already up and running in the capital's urban areas, including marriage-based family support, fathering and mentoring schemes, and male-focused education.

He said such schemes were making a real difference in reducing gun and knife crime in the areas where they were operating, and called for more investment in faith-based initiatives from the Government - "not to monitor and control but to affirm and encourage", he said.

"The best thing the Government can do is step back and acknowledge it has a diminished role in the whole thing and affirm and encourage those that are already out there doing good work - the faith communities."