The number of convictions for carrying a knife has leapt by almost two thirds since Labour took office, the Daily Mail reports, with some police forces in England and Wales have seen the level of successful prosecutions treble.

Opposition critics warned last night that the latest data exposed the true scale of the “epidemic” of knife crime which has claimed dozens of young lives in major cities over recent months.

In 1998 there were 3,805 successful convictions, but in 2007, the last year for which figures are available, the total hit 6,169 – a rise of more than 62 per cent.

The figures only include cases where knife possession was the most serious offence – and does not cover violent knife attacks including murder or serious wounding, or cases where arrests for possession did not lead to a conviction.

The largest rises among individual forces included West Yorkshire where police saw convictions more than quadruple, from 38 in 1998 to 190 in 1997. Suffolk saw a rise of 300 per cent, from 22 to 89, and in Humberside by 226 per cent from 45 to 147. Only Northamptonshire and Kent recorded falls.

And while crooks and criminals will always have deadly weapons, the normal people have nothing to protect themselves with.

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