Anyone buying a knife online will face tougher requirements to prove their age under measures announced by Keir Starmer after the Southport attack.
The prime minister said the “lessons of this case could not be clearer” as he vowed to stop people being able to order weapons off the internet “without any checks or barriers”.
Axel Rudakubana used a knife he bought on Amazon to kill three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last summer in Southport, Merseyside.
Under new laws, online retailers will be required to ask anyone buying a knife for two types of identification, such as a passport or driving licence, and also record a live video to prove their age.
Writing in the Sun, Starmer said: “It remains shockingly easy for our children to get their hands on deadly knives. The lessons of this case could not be clearer.
“Time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives. Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them. And yet, tragically, he was still able to order the murder weapon off the internet without any checks or barriers. A two-click killer. This cannot continue.
“The technology is there to set up age verification checks, even for kitchen knives ordered online. We must now use it to protect our children from future attack and I will ensure that this happens.”
When asked how two types of identification could prevent people from freely buying weapons online, the employment minister Alison McGovern told BBC Breakfast: “We know that the technology is there to improve verification checks and I think that everyone would want that, every business, every organisation.”
She added the government would “look at every measure that we can bring forward through legislation”.
The law says retailers must verify the age of the customer before selling a knife and, for those bought online, at the point of collection or delivery. It is illegal for under-18s to be sold a fixed blade of more than three inches long in England and Wales.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility around the sale of all age-restricted items – including bladed products – extremely seriously and have launched an urgent investigation in relation to this tragic case.
“We use trusted ID verification services to check name, date of birth and address details whenever an order is placed for these bladed items.
“We have an age verification on delivery process that requires drivers to verify the recipient’s age through an app on their devices before handing over a parcel containing an age-restricted item.”
However, authorities have warned that far too many knives are still being sold to under-18s. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told MPs: “That’s a total disgrace and it must change. So, we will bring in stronger measures to tackle knife sales online in the crime and policing bill this spring.”
Trading Standards and Lancashire police undertook a joint undercover operation that found 24 out of 59 shops in Lancashire visited sold knives to volunteers aged 13 and 16, while four premises failed for the second time in the year and were facing further enforcement action.
Commander Stephen Clayman, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, is leading a review of online knife sales and had been due to report at the end of this month, but the plans were being brought forward, the BBC said.
