Tony Blair has given the go-ahead for tougher sentences for youngsters involved in gun crime and criminal gangs.

He said that the recent wave of gun crime sweeping Britain’s cities was “a specific problem within a specific criminal culture”, but that the gun laws should be reviewed.

He is planning to hold a summit on the issue at Downing Street next week with ministers, police and community leaders.

He told the BBC that the lower age limit for a mandatory five-year prison sentence for carrying a gun should be reduced from 21 to 17.

The Government can reduce the age limit to 18 without legislation, but cutting it to 17 would require a new law. However, ministers could be frustrated by a recent Court of Appeal ruling that 18-year-olds cannot be jailed for five years.

Mr Blair also backed the idea that being a member of a gang should be an aggravating factor in sentencing.

He said that people giving evidence against gangs should be given proper protection, and that it was “sensible” that police mount surveillance on the homes of people suspected of having guns.

In May it will become a crime to look after a weapon for someone else.

Mr Blair acknowledged that there was a “real problem” but said that gun crime and violent crime had fallen in London over the past year.

Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said that tougher sentences would not deter teenage gang members.

He said: “These youngsters will live by the gun and die by the gun. These are walking assassins, and walking assassins never care about the sentence they are going to get.”

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