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Theresa May could have curbed knife crime by now and saved scores of lives by delivering on a 2011 pledge, according to Labour .

The Prime Minister visited a scheme in Glasgow while compiling a report on gang violence in her time as Home Secretary.

It had halved the murder rate in what was then the knife-crime capital of Europe and speaking to Parliament that year, PM David Cameron said he wanted its model rolled out as “a national priority”.

In her own report, Mrs May admitted not enough had been done to tackle violence and gang culture, speaking of the need for “a long-term, evidence-based programme to get a proper grip” on the blights.

But she never followed through.

This week, she stood up in Parliament and said: “There has been excellent work done under what was Strathclyde police force, now Police Scotland, looking at and using the public health approach.

“What that does is ensure all agencies – not just across Government, but in local government and elsewhere – are able to be brought together to deal with this issue.

“What I want to do at that summit is to hear directly from those agencies what further action the Government can take.”

The Glasgow scheme had drastic results but took years to become effective.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan set up a similar model last September and Labour MP Sarah Jones, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime, said Mrs May’s failure to act eight years ago – or since – was “staggering”

She said: “Knife crime is at record levels and this issue deserves total focus from Downing Street.

“So it’s quite staggering that the Prime Minister is saying she is still looking for answers.

“We know she visited Scotland eight years ago and learned about their public health approach, which cut crime to record lows.

"Sadiq Khan has taken action in London. But he is right to say these things take time.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Phil Harris / Daily Mirror)

“David Cameron called the Scottish model ‘a national priority’ so it’s disappointing the PM didn’t put something in place when she had the chance.

“How many lives might have been saved if the Government had followed Scotland’s lead in 2011?”

Mr Khan added: “The Glasgow public health approach to tackling knife crime has saved countless lives and that’s why we’ve adopted it.

"We now know the Government had the chance to implement this eight years ago, which could have stopped this crisis reaching epidemic levels. Ministers need to do so urgently.”

In 2004/05, there were 137 homicides in Scotland with 40 of them in Glasgow – double the national rate. In 2005, the Violence Reduction Unit was introduced, treating gang violence and knife crime as a public health matter as well as a criminal issue.

The move led to increased co-operation between the police, NHS, social services and local councils.

The scheme – motto “violence is preventable, not inevitable” – was largely driven by data.

By 2016/17, the number of murders in Scotland had more than halved to 62.

(Image: Instagram)

In the foreword to the 2011 report, co-authored with Iain Duncan Smith, Mrs May said: “Gangs and youth violence have been a serious problem for several years now. We need to accept that over the years not enough was done to deal with the underlying drivers of the violence.

“Every crime is caused by a criminal but we need to do more to prevent young people joining gangs or getting involved in violent activity.”

Mrs May also hit out at previous governments for not doing enough – and pledged to come up with a solution.

She wrote: “For too long, Government action has not been as effective as it should be at stemming the violence. We need a long-term, evidence-based programme to get a proper grip on gang violence.”