New figures released have shown that justice secretary Kenny MacAskill's crackdown on knife crime is long over due as research shows that Scottish people are twice as likely to be killed in a knife attack as English people.

Knife crime now accounts for 40% of all assault deaths in Scotland, with more than 27% of hospital admissions in Scotland being due to violence.

In 2006 57 Scottish people died after a result of being attacked by a knife, a worrying rise of 27% from 1998. In Scotland there are 11 deaths per million in Scotland compared with 5.4 per million in England.

Glaswegians are three times more likely to end up in hospital after a knife attack than Londoners.

MacAskill said: "We are under no illussion that tackling violence will be easy. There are no overnight solutions to tackle this macho culture."

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "These are shocking figures and urgent action is required to end this senseless violence."