No one likes crime and anti-social behaviour, but there are real differences between political parties as to how strongly it should be dealt with. The Conservatives are the only mainstream party in the UK who believe in being tough in dealing with crime, especially violent crime.  All Conservative Councillors in Crawley condemn violence without any hesitation, wherever it may come from.

Four months ago, I wrote in this column about the Government’s welcome efforts to make women and girls feel safer, being actioned by the Domestic Abuse Bill and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.  I also highlighted how the government is investing an additional £45 million on practical measures to ensure women feel safer in the night-time economy and in our communities, including additional funding for the government’s Safer Streets Fund.  In our night-time economy, it’s also important that women (and men) can have confidence through a vigorous licensing process, in those running establishments serving alcohol, as well as taxi drivers taking them home afterwards.     

Last week the Conservative Government published their Beating Crime Plan, which includes measures such as tagging burglars after twelve-month sentences, making targeted stop-and-search powers permanent, investing £17 million in violence reduction units, targeted patrols, and increased CCTV and streetlighting.

The Beating Crime Plan is the Conservatives’ blueprint for cutting crime and increasing confidence in our justice system.  By combining prevention, deterrence, and enforcement, it will put victims first, support the dedicated and hardworking men and women from across our criminal justice system who keep us safe; and make sure justice is done and seen to be done, including making offenders clean up neighbourhoods as reparation for their crimes.

I’ve always believed that Labour is soft on crime.  Areas run by Labour suffer from higher crime.  In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan is failing to tackle violent crime.  Under the Labour Mayor, the number of knife crime offences in London has risen rapidly from 9,700 in 2014-15 to 15,600 in 2019-20.  Whereas, when his predecessor Boris Johnson was London Mayor, knife crime fell from over 12,000 incidents in 2008-09 to 9,743 in 2015-16.

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

4th August 2021