The sale of the most corrosive substances to under-18s is to be banned under police powers proposed by the home secretary to tackle the recent spate of acid attacks.
Amber Rudd told the Conservative party conference yesterday that she also wanted to create a new offence of possession of a corrosive substance in a public place, modelled on the existing ban on carrying a knife, which carries a prison sentence of up to four years.
“Acid attacks are absolutely revolting. You have all seen the pictures of victims that never fully recover. Endless surgeries. Lives ruined. So today, I am also announcing a new offence to prevent the sale of acids to under-18s,” she said.
“Furthermore, given its use in the production of so-called homemade explosives, I also announce my intention to drastically limit the public sale of sulphuric acid.”
In her speech in Manchester, the home secretary announced a £600,000 grant for a technology project to remove indecent images of children from the web, and confirmed her intention to introduce a maximum 15-year prison sentence for those who repeatedly view terrorist content online.
Rudd renewed her call for technology companies such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft to bring forward technical solutions to “rid their platforms” of terrorist material, telling them they had “a moral obligation” to do more.
The home secretary had caused consternation on Monday when she hit out at those in the technology industry who “sneered at” and “patronised” politicians trying to legislate in new areas, declaring at a fringe meeting that she “didn’t need to know how encryption works to understand how it’s helping criminals”.