General Election: Tackling knife crime in Slough among key topics at hustings

Tackling knife crime to make Slough safer was one of the key issues debated during the hustings on Tuesday evening.

The first question tackled how knife crime will be reduced and came from Umar Ansari, the father of 18-year-old Abdul Aziz Ansari, who died after being stabbed in Langley in 2022.

Mr Ansari said: “I lost my 18-year-old son to a brutal stabbing in Langley two years ago.

“Since then, I’ve been in contact with the parents of Elton Gashaj, Mohammed Ashraq, Rafaqit Kayani and most recently Temur Qureshi who have all unfortunately lost their lives to knife crime in Slough.”

He asked each of the candidates to state how they will reduce knife crime in Slough and make ‘our town safer’.

Before responding, each of the candidates gave their condolences and sympathies to Mr Ansari.

Independent candidate Diana Coad said as well as having more police officers out patrolling the streets, ‘we also need to see parents take some parental responsibility for teaching their children respect for people, their feelings, their property’.

Labour’s Tan Dhesi spoke of funding cuts to youth clubs and youth centres where young people would visit.

The Green Party’s Julian Edmonds said that more activities for youngsters will ‘go a long way’ towards helping to tackle the issue.

Conservative candidate Moni Kaur Nanda said the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley, Matthew Barber, ‘cares’ about issues such as knife crime.

“A lot of crime has come down in this area. There is still a lot to do,” she added.

Liberal Democrat candidate Chelsea Whyte said the party wants to see more police officers on the streets and would also end the role of Police and Crime Commissioners.

“She said: “We also would get rid of Police and Crime Commissioners. We think it's a bureaucratic office that takes money away from the actual service of the police.”

Independent candidate Azhar Chohan raised the importance of youth clubs and said, ‘we need to make sure our youth have somewhere to go after school’.

Ms Nanda said there is ‘absolutely a need’ for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner, in response to the Liberal Democrats’ plans.

Mr Ansari said the responses from the candidates have been ‘very vague, very general and it’s concerning’.