Gordon Brown today announced that more than 110,000 "problem families" with disruptive youngsters will be targeted as part of a crackdown on knife crime.

They will get parenting supervision, with the worst 20,000 families facing eviction from council or social housing if they do not respond.

He aimed to make it "unacceptable" to carry a knife, with "prevention, enforcement and punishment" the focus. And there will be tougher community sentences for offenders, with up to 300 hours of unpaid work, some of it having to be done on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Prime Minister, under attack over the Government’s response to surging knife violence, acknowledged that too many people feel unsafe in their own homes as public concern about knife crime spirals.

And he did not dwell on the plan, highlighted massively over the weekend and ridiculed in some quarters, to force youngsters to go to hospital accident wards to see the impact of stabbing. Mr Brown did not retreat from it but said it was only one small part of measures being drawn up by the Government.

While the Prime Minister would not endorse the Conservative idea that all youngsters carrying knives should face a prison sentence, he said there should be a presumption that offenders would either go to prison or face a tough “community payback” sentence.

“What we should do is say to them ’There is a presumption to prosecute, you will be punished’. We are absolutely clear that that punishment will be severe. That punishment will include going to prison or tough community payback.”

He said such offenders could face up to 300 hours of unpaid work, with tasks set by communities, such as cleaning graffiti and tending parks on Friday and Saturday nights.

Speaking at his regular Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister insisted that those carrying knives were more likely to be caught and face punishment now than ever before.

But he admitted: “Too many people, young and old, do not feel safe in the streets, and sometimes even in their homes, as a result of the behaviour of a minority. We need to make it absolutely clear to everyone, but especially young people, that in our country there are boundaries of acceptable behaviour, that it is completely unacceptable to carry a knife.”

He went on to say that there were more stop-and-searches being carried out than ever and a new presumption to prosecute offenders also meant they were ever more likely to be punished.

He said community sentences were being strengthened to make them “tough, visible and effective” and that the Government would do more to prevent youngsters “falling into crime”. Early intervention would be extended to 20,000 families in social or council housing, who would face the threat of eviction if they failed to respond positively to support.

Mr Brown said crime was down by a third and the number of police on the street dramatically up - but there was still a “huge amount” to do.

“I accept that as long as young people, or any person, feels unsafe in our streets and our neighbourhoods the job is not done and a huge amount is still to be done. And that’s why we are toughening up punishment, toughening up enforcement and toughening up prevention,” he told reporters.

Asked why he would not simply promise to lock up all those carrying knives, he said: “When someone is carrying and using a knife there is absolutely no doubt that they should go to prison. But I notice those people who were proposing prison simply for there being a knife have drawn back from that and talk about a presumption of prison and about the different kinds of knives that would be exempted.

“What I want to see is anybody who is using a knife goes to prison; anybody who is carrying a knife is subject to either prison or a strong community payback that forces them to give service to the community. These are the types of sentences that young people must know will be applied against them.”

Mr Brown criticised advice to magistrates from the Sentencing Guidelines Council that possession of a knife could be punished with just a fine.

He said: “What the sentencing council has said is not acceptable to me.”

But he said that, in the case of a 14-year-old caught with a knife for the first time, it might be “inappropriate” to send them to jail or a young offenders’ institution and tough community work would be appropriate.

The Government would also be focusing on the one in 20 young people responsible for half of all youth crime, he said.

“These are the families whose children are disrupting the classrooms and roaming the streets committing crime,” he said, promising increased support but “tough sanctions” for those who do not respond.

Mr Brown said there were 110,000 families in need of support where children were at risk of becoming prolific offenders.

Early intervention would take place in about 20,000 families, where, he said, “it’s clear that the mother or father have lost control of their children and their whole life is actually in difficulty”.

Times Recommends

• 6 reasons not to give gifts this Christmas
• Remembrance Day: All the lonely heroes