Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said the presumption against prison sentences of three months or less and the rejection of mandatory six-month jail terms for anyone caught carrying a knife meant his party could not support the "flawed legislation".

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With counting under way in the north, the party's ambitions are on a knife edge after a dramatic night of results.

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And days after a scoop by one of his papers about a Conservative party adviser allegedly selling access to senior ministers, he twists the knife.

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Mr Chaudhury said the party leader Bal Thackeray had said that women should carry a "Rampuri (small Indian knife) in their purse rather than a lipstick".

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