As Home Secretary, my number one job is to make sure that people are safe. No one should ever have to walk our streets afraid of being attacked.

But the sad truth is, there has been a rise in some high-harm violent offences such as those involving knives and guns. Stabbings in Barnet and Elstree and a shooting in Battersea brought this reality home over the Christmas period.

The homicide rate has started rising after a period of long-term decline and this rise has been most pronounced among young men. These crimes have devastating effects on our communities and often feel like very local crimes.

But it’s a bleak fact that much of the violence is fuelled with trafficked guns, weapons and drugs that originate elsewhere. Street crime has become more internationalised.

There is no one, simple solution to this. Our response has to be local, national and international. Locally, we have to understand what drives too many young people towards serious violence and intervene early.