Police chief Cressida Dick says talks are under way to stop the surge in acid attacks

New rules on corrosive substances are being considered by the Government after demands for new legislation to tackle the acid attack menace.

Police chiefs believe sentences should be increased to reflect the horrific life-changing injuries caused by corrosive liquids.

Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick said talks are already under way to see what changes could stem a surge in attacks.

Campaigners want to see it made harder to purchase potentially deadly chemicals.

But they have already been warned it is virtually impossible to completely block them as they have many common uses, especially as drain cleaners.

Earlier this month Home Office officials met with senior officers, medical experts and representatives of the retail trade to broker a deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May suggested action is an urgent priority as she denounced the ‘horrific’ attacks.

Mrs Dick, the country’s most senior police officer, branded the use of chemicals as a weapon as ‘completely barbaric’.

She said: ‘The acid can cause horrendous injuries, the ones last night involved a series of robberies we believe are linked – I am glad to see we have arrested somebody,’ she said.

‘And it is not, I don’t want people to think this is happening all over London all the time, it is really not, but we are concerned because the numbers appear to be going up.

‘We will arrest people, we will enforce the law as we can, and we are working very closely with the Home Office to try to see if there is any changes in the law required.’

Police officers were seen pouring bottle after bottle of water over a victim, understood to be Mr Hussain, in a video that appeared on Twitter from Hackney Road

Experts say acid is becoming the weapon of choice for many criminals, say experts.

This is because while attacking someone with a corrosive substance is illegal, it is not illegal to carry.

Caustic fluid such as sulphuric acid or drain cleaner can be bought online in or in shops for as little as £7 or £8 a litre, and there is no age restriction on its purchase. Campaigners and one of the victims of Thursday’s attacks have called for penalties for those caught carrying corrosive liquid to be brought in line with laws around knife crime.

Under current laws, a knife attacker can face attempted murder charges, whereas an acid attack would be classified as grievous bodily harm.

Jabed Hussain says he was lucky not to be more seriously injured after he was the first victim of a gang who sprayed acid in the faces of delivery drivers on mopeds last night

Executive director of the Acid Survivors Trust, Jaf Shah, said carrying acid in public should carry the same penalty as possessing a knife after the number of similar incidents had ‘effectively doubled’ in the UK over three years.

‘In a way, it’s almost like a safer crime to commit, especially for gang members perhaps lower down the hierarchy,’ he said.

Recorded numbers of acid attacks in Britain are now higher than in countries such as Colombia, India and Pakistan.

Mr Shah called on the Government to introduce a licensing system, requiring registration with the Home office for the legitimate purchase of concentrated acid, which is used in agriculture, as well as the jewellery and clothing industries.

He also suggested banning cash sales and introducing an age restriction.

Jabed Hussain, who was attacked on Hackney Road, said: ‘Teenagers cannot even buy cigarettes in shops, but they can buy something like this which can melt somebody’s face.’

The number of assaults involving corrosive substances has risen by more than 30 per cent in the last two years.

Two men on a moped carried out five acid attacks in a 72-minute period in London on Thursday night, leaving one victim with life-changing injuries on Hackney Road junction with Queensbridge Road (pictured). Other delivery drivers rushed to the scene after the attack

There have been more than 1,800 reports of acid used in murders, robberies and rapes since 2010 and the frequency of attacks is increasing.

The attacks also combined the worrying trend in moped thefts, in which rampant gangs of youths are snatching hundreds of machines to use in further crimes. Last year there were 454 crimes in London in which a corrosive was used or used as a threat, compared to 261 in 2015, according to the Met.

Almost a third of these were carried out in the east London borough of Newham.

Last month, aspiring model Resham Khan and her cousin Jameel Muhktar, 37, were left with ‘life changing injuries’ as they went out for a drive to celebrate her 21st birthday.

An attacker threw a corrosive substance through the driver and passenger windows of their car as they stopped at traffic lights in Canning Town, east London.

East Ham Labour MP Stephen Timms said there should be tougher and more consistent sentences are needed for those found guilty of acid attacks.

The former Government minister wants carrying acid to be made an offence and suggested the purchase of sulphuric acid could be licensed.

He said: ‘I think that the sentences for attacks of this kind should be reviewed - the guidelines for sentencing.

‘I think we should have tougher and also more consistent sentences for those who are found guilty of carrying out these attacks.’

Mr Timms said carrying a bottle of sulphuric acid without justification should be treated as an offence, like carrying a knife, and said there was a case to re-examine when it is appropriate to use stop and search powers.

He said: ‘I think that carrying acid should in itself be an offence, in the same way that carrying a knife wouldn’t have been an offence some years ago.

‘I think there’s been a pretty effective change - I think the same change should be made for acid.’

A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘It is already an offence to carry acid or a corrosive substance with intent to cause harm and anyone using it can be prosecuted for pretty serious offences including ABH and GBH.

‘There was a meeting at the Home Office on 4 July and we are continuing to work with the police, health professionals and retailers to do more.

‘The Prime Minister believes the use of acid in this way is horrific and we want to work with stakeholders to see what more can be done.

‘It is clearly an extremely serious issue, which is why we are carrying out work to see what more we can do.’