There are a lot of misconceptions about knife laws in the UK that our UK members have been able to dispel.
Locking blades are legal to carry in the UK as long as there's a reasonable purpose (to/during/from work, hunting, fishing, recreational activities, etc.), but the burden of proof is on the citizen. Many of our UK members comfortably carry them because they have a ready "excuse", but the risk is there regardless. Assisted openers and autos are forbidden. Non locking blades require no explanation, but still face the same sort of restrictions we see in the US on specific places we can't carry them (I had to stash my folder at Hoover Dam of all places several years ago).
While we vilify the UK and insult the people and politicians there we need to be reminded that we have many of the same laws in place here in the U.S. Even in TX you couldn't carry a Bowie or a folder with a blade longer than 5" and in San Antonio, the home of the Alamo, you couldn't carry a locking blade shorter than 5". In many states you can cross the state and find yourself entering and leaving jurisdictions that dictate different blade lengths and ban locks or other mechanisms (famous recently is Baltimore where the state of Maryland specifically excludes assisted openers from the switchblade classification, but Baltimore's law may allow an assisted opener to be treated as a switchblade). You could be legal in your home, illegal pulling out of your driveway, legal crossing from city to county and illegal again at the end of the day as you stop for food and yard supplies, all without changing the knife in your pocket! That was the case in my state, considered one of the best 2A states, until we spent 2 years getting preemption in place and then getting rid of the blade length limit and then the opening mechanism prohibition. It has taken over 2 years of effort to change the laws in TX so you wouldn't face the same problem, and we're only close at this point.
So we may gasp at the extreme in the UK, but never forget we're not that far off of their absurdity in states with populations larger than England's.