MINIMUM jail terms should be introduced for people who carry knives, according to politicians who visited Glasgow's East End.

MINIMUM jail terms should be introduced for people who carry knives, according to politicians who visited Glasgow's East End.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray led a team gathering support for their petition at a supermarket in Shettleston.

Mr Gray wants the Scottish Government to bring in a new law enforcing minimum sentences for knife possession.

He said a radical policy is needed to send a message that knife crime will not be tolerated.

Women who lost family members to knife thugs supported the call.

Mr Gray said: "This is problem all over the country, but in Glasgow there have been too many incidents.

"We need to make sure people know that if they are caught with a knife, they will be going to jail.

"Half of all murders are committed with a knife. That demands tough action."

But the policy, which also has Tory support, has been criticised by opponents for removing discretion from judges and for creating a need for more prison places.

Georgette Neil, 44, from Barlanark, was among those collecting signatures.

Her husband Malcolm, 42, was stabbed to death in 2007 by his daughter's partner, Christopher Callanan.

She said: "We need stronger sentences and everyone I have spoken to about it agrees."

The petition has been organised by local Labour MSPs Margaret Curran and Frank McAveety, who will present it to Holyrood later this year.

Last year 779 people were treated for knife wounds in Glasgow hospitals, and in 2007/08 there were 55 murders in Scotland involving knives.