The prime minister has visited Southport to pay his respects to the victims of Monday’s stabbings, and to their families who are “going through raw pain and grief”.
Sir Keir Starmer laid flowers near the Hart Space, a community centre where children had been attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop before the attack.
Three young girls have since died, with Merseyside Police naming them as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds and five are in a critical condition in hospital, alongside two adults who were also critically injured.
A 17-year-old boy, from the village of Banks in Lancashire, has been arrested and is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
Speaking to reporters after having talks with local emergency services, Sir Keir said he had come to Southport to “pay my respects to the victims and families who are going through raw pain and grief that most of us can’t imagine – that I can’t imagine as a dad myself”.
He said he wanted to offer “a personal thank you” to the emergency services too and “to shake their hand… to say as prime minister, on behalf of the country, we are grateful for what they did”, adding: “They, of course, say they will respond, they are professionals, to anything.
“But there is no pretending that what they had to respond to yesterday was ordinary. [It] was very, very difficult for them, they were absolutely professional and it was important for me to come and say simple words – thank you.”
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Sir Keir also said that while “the families, the friends, the loved ones, those directly impacted, and, of course, the wider community” were at the forefront of his mind, there was “no pretending that anybody in the country is not untouched by what happened”.
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Asked whether the incident would lead to more action on knife crime from the government, the prime minister said he was “absolutely determined that my government will get to grips with it”.
But, he added: “Today is not the time for politics. Today is the time to focus entirely on the families who are going through such pain and grief, and on the wider community.
“And, of course, a time to say thank you to those that responded yesterday in the most awful of circumstances.”
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