The Home Secretary has called on police to “ramp up” the use of controversial stop and search powers “to prevent violence and save more lives”.

In a press release, Suella Braverman said that officers who use the powers have her “full support”.

Indeed, the Home Office said that Ms Braverman is writing to police chiefs across England and Wales to give her full backing to the tactic. However, the contents of the letter have not been made public.

The Home Secretary also singled out “young black males” who she said are “disproportionately affected” by knife crime. In the year ending March 2022, ONS statistics showed that 31 out of the 99 young people who lost their lives to knife crime were black.

However, critics of stop and search say it disproportionately targets black and ethnic minority communities.

Government statistics suggest black people are seven times more like to be stopped and searched compared with white people.

And campaign groups have previously warned that relaxing restrictions on police use of the power could compound discrimination.

Ms Braverman said: “Carrying weapons is a scourge on our society, and anyone doing so is risking their own lives as well as the lives of those around them.

“This dangerous culture must be brought to a stop.

“My first priority is to keep the public safe, and people who insist on carrying a weapon must know that there will be consequences.

“The police have my full support to ramp up the use of stop and search, wherever necessary, to prevent violence and save more lives.”

She added that she backs the police in tackling knife crime among young black males.

“Every death from knife crime is a tragedy,” she said.

“That’s why I also back the police in tackling this blight in communities which are disproportionately affected, such as among young black males.

“We need to do everything in our power to crack down on this violence.”

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Home Secretary was “chasing headlines” instead of tackling knife crime.

“Knife crime has shot up after 13 years of the Tories, with the biggest increases in the suburbs and counties, destroying lives and devastating families,” she said.

“Yet instead of a serious Government plan to get knife crime back down, the Home Secretary is just writing the police more letters and chasing headlines.

“The decimation of neighbourhood policing, cuts to youth prevention work, lack of a proper serious violence strategy and lack of action on organised crime under the Tories has allowed knife crime to go up across all communities.”