The emergency package will be spent on new violent crime units in Britain’s worst affected areas such as London, South Wales and Manchester, and to pay for staff's overtime
PHILIP Hammond today announced a £100 million funding package to tackle Britain's knife crime epidemic, as revealed by The Sun.
The cash will go towards violent crime units in the seven worst affected UK cities.
It is a major victory for Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who demanded the cash after the surge in knife killings this year.
Chancellor Philip Hammond had offered a new package of £50 million but Mr Javid held out for more.
The Sun revealed last week that he had initially asked for £300 million to spend over the next three years.
Officials in the two departments were locked in talks until late last night over the final amount.
They finally struck a deal just hours before Mr Hammond's Spring Statement today.
Some £80 million of the funding will be new money from the Treasury.
The extra £20 million will be shifted from existing Home Office budgets.
The money will also help pay for police officers overtime as they struggle to combat spiralling knife crime.
Most of the new cash will be spent on new violent crime units in London, the West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Wales and Manchester.
