THE British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, last night told the Labour leader there was still "no workable solution" to the problem of combat knives on the streets.
Having given an assurance earlier in the day that he would hold a general election on or before May 1st of next year, Mr Major buoyantly defied criticism of his change of policy since the Queen's speech on Wednesday.
A defiant Mr Major responded to Mr Tony Blair's offer to cooperate in speeding a bill banning combat knives onto the statute book. He suggested instead that the Labour leader drop his objection to measures in the government's Criminal Justice Act.
The Prime Minister was replying to a letter from Mr Blair in which the Labour leader had offered to co operate in the knife legislation in the same way he had promised to help pot curbs on paedophiles and stalkers into law on Wednesday. Mr Major's letter claimed that the knife ban was a trickier issue. The problem, he said, was in defining what combat knives were.
Labour believes that the problem is not as intractable as the government suggests. The Shadow Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, highlighted some of the knives on offer through mail order magazines loudly named knives often with 10 inch blades.
Earlier, Mr Major used a series of radio and TV interviews to reject suggestions that his change of heart over laws on paedophiles and stalking had amounted to a U turn. "I have got what I want, and I got it a good deal more speedily than before," he insisted.
Mr Major was referring to his decision to introduce government bills curbing paedophiles and stalking, after suggesting initially that the quickest route to the statute book for the measures was via backbench MPs' bills. He changed his mind after the Labour Party leader offered both measures speedy passage through the House.
. The Tory whip was removed from Lord McAlpine yesterday for his chairing of Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party conference last weekend.