UK Knife Laws: Carrying, Good Reason and the Banned Blades

Carrying a knife in public in England and Wales is a criminal offence unless you have a good reason for it, and the list of knives you cannot even possess at home has grown twice in the last two years. A further round of tougher penalties has been passed by Parliament but, as of this guide, has not yet come into force. Getting the timeline right matters as much as getting the rules right.

The Basic Offence: Carrying a Blade in Public

The core offence sits in the Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.139: having an article with a blade or a sharp point in a public place, without good reason or lawful authority. It applies to essentially any bladed or pointed article, not only knives sold as weapons; kitchen knives, craft blades and tools all fall within it once they leave a home or workplace and enter a public place without a good reason for being carried.

The burden under s.139(4) falls on the person carrying the article to show good reason or lawful authority, rather than on the prosecution to disprove it.

The Folding Pocket Knife Exemption, and Why Locking Knives Don't Qualify

Section 139(1) carves out one specific exception: an ordinary folding pocket knife. To qualify, the cutting edge of the blade must be 3 inches (7.62cm) or less.

This exemption is narrower than it looks. In Harris v DPP [1993] 1 WLR 82 and R v Deegan [1998], the courts held that a knife which locks open, even briefly, is not a "folding" knife for the purposes of the exemption, because it is not readily and immediately foldable back down. A locking pocket knife with a 2.5-inch blade is therefore not automatically exempt just because of its length; the locking mechanism removes the exemption regardless of blade size. gov.uk's own consumer guidance confirms this in plain terms: a folding knife only counts as exempt if it does not have "a button, spring or catch that you have to use to fold the knife."

What Counts as a 'Good Reason'

"Good reason" and "lawful authority" are assessed on the facts of the individual case, not from a fixed checklist, but s.139(5) and gov.uk guidance both give recognised examples:

• carrying a knife for work (a tradesperson's tools, for instance);
• carrying a knife for religious reasons, such as a kirpan carried by some Sikhs;
• carrying a knife as part of a national costume.

None of these categories is automatic. A knife carried "for work" still has to be a genuine, proportionate tool for that work, carried in circumstances consistent with that reason. Simply asserting a reason after the fact does not guarantee a defence will succeed.

Offensive Weapons More Broadly: the 1953 and 1959 Acts

Two older statutes sit alongside s.139. The Prevention of Crime Act 1953, s.1 makes it an offence to have an offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, where an offensive weapon is one made or adapted to cause injury, or carried by the person with the intention of using it to cause injury. This covers weapons beyond bladed articles, such as knuckledusters or coshes, as well as knives carried with the wrong intent.

The Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959, s.1 separately bans the manufacture, sale, hire, and importation of flick knives (blades that spring open under pressure from a button or similar device) and gravity knives (blades released by gravity or centrifugal force). Unlike the 2024 and 2025 bans below, this restriction extends to England, Wales and Scotland.

The 2024 Ban: Zombie-Style Knives and Machetes

From 24 September 2024, possessing a "zombie-style knife" or "zombie-style machete" became a criminal offence in England and Wales. This was introduced through a statutory instrument made under the order-making power in the Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.141, which lets the Secretary of State add specific weapon descriptions to the list of prohibited items. The banned description covers blades over 8 inches with features such as serrations, multiple holes in the blade, or spikes, subject to narrow exceptions (for example, for antiques and certain registered collections).

The 2025 Ban: Ninja Swords ("Ronan's Law")

From 1 August 2025, possessing a "ninja sword" also became a criminal offence in England and Wales. This ban, sometimes referred to informally as "Ronan's Law," was made through its own standalone statutory instrument, separate from and earlier than the Crime and Policing Act 2026 described below. It targets swords with a blade between roughly 14 and 24 inches, a straight cutting edge, a blunt spine, and a tanto or reverse-tanto style point, along with a surrender-and-compensation scheme for people who lawfully owned one before the ban took effect.

The Crime and Policing Act 2026: Enacted, But Not Yet in Force

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 received Royal Assent, and it does contain further knife measures: an increase in the maximum penalty for private possession, importation, manufacture, sale or supply of a prohibited weapon from 6 months to 2 years' imprisonment, a new offence of possessing a blade with intent to cause fear or unlawful violence, and new online-sale rules requiring photographic age verification and reporting of bulk purchases.

None of these knife provisions have been brought into force. The commencement regulations made so far have activated a range of other measures in the Act, covering areas such as anti-social behaviour, firearms and public order, but the knife, crossbow and online-sale measures were not among them. Until a further commencement order specifically brings these sections into force, the current maximum penalty for private possession of a banned weapon remains 6 months, and the new possession-with-intent offence and online-sale verification rules are not yet law. Treat any claim that the 2-year penalty or the new offence is already in effect with caution, and check the current commencement position before relying on it.

Per-Nation Differences

The specific 2024 zombie-knife/machete and 2025 ninja-sword possession bans are England and Wales measures, made under the England and Wales version of the s.141 order-making power. The underlying carrying offence in s.139 itself extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland (only its sentencing provisions differ by nation). Scotland has its own separate carrying offence, the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, s.49, which has a similar 3-inch folding-knife exemption, plus its own devolved version of the s.141-style banning power. Neither Scotland nor Northern Ireland should be assumed to automatically pick up an England and Wales weapon-possession ban the moment it takes effect. The 1959 Act's flick-knife and gravity-knife restrictions extend to Scotland as well as England and Wales.

This guide explains the carrying offence, the pocket-knife exemption and the current state of the knife bans in general terms. It is not legal advice on a specific item or situation, and commencement dates for further reforms can change. Anyone facing a specific knife-related charge or question should get advice from a solicitor. For related rights, see our guides to self-defence and reasonable force and citizen's arrest in the UK, or the wider UK Criminal Law hub.