Mike
Weatherley – “Let the Police get on with their job”
Sussex
Police have come mid-table in the latest round of assessments.
Responding to the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary report,
Mike Weatherley, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion
said:
“What
this shows is the police officers in Sussex are doing an excellent job in very
difficult circumstances. I welcome
any improvement in the service that police officers provide.
It is worth pointing out though that any such progress is down purely to
the dedication of the officers themselves.”
Remember
Tony Blair’s slogan “Tough on Crime and Tough on the Causes of Crime”?
But
what has happened in reality:
·
Since
1997, a million more violent crimes have been committed.
·
Between
1998/9 and 2002/3, the number of robberies rose by 41,210 – an increase of 62
per cent (Crime in England and Wales 2002-3, Home Office, July 2003,).
·
The
number of sexual offences has risen by 35 per cent since 1998-9 (Crime in
England and Wales 2002-3, Home Office, July 2003, Table 3.04).
·
In
1997 there were 4,904 crimes involving guns (excluding air weapons) in England
and Wales. By 2002-3 the figure was 10,250 (Home Office, Crime in England and
Wales 2002-3, Supplementary Volume, Table 2.03) – an increase of 109 per
cent. This means that a crime
involving a gun takes place every hour in Britain today.
·
The
number of persistent young offenders making repeat appearances before the courts
in England and Wales has increased by 63 per cent since 1997 – from 16,010 in
1997 to 26,083 in 2003 (Source: Department for Constitutional Affairs, Statistics
on Persistent Young Offenders, Issue 10/2003, Table 1).
All
the Labour Government has come up with in answer to this shameful record is
gimmick after gimmick:
·
Child
Curfew Schemes.
·
Anti-Social
Behaviour Orders. ASBOS were introduced in Labour’s 1998 Crime and Disorder
Act. Labour’s plan was that 5,000 ASBOs would be used each year.
However, the Government’s most recent figures have shown that ASBOS have been
used on just 1,623 occasions altogether (Hansard, 10 March 2004,
Col. 1563W).
·
Docking
housing benefits from anti-social tenants. In May 2002, Tony Blair said: ‘We
are also looking at housing benefit and the persistent antisocial behaviour and
offending by families in receipt of that benefit.’ (Hansard, 1 May
2002, Col. 941). In Tony Blair’s 2002 Labour Party conference speech, the
Prime Minister said: ‘Anti-social tenants and their anti-social landlords who
make money out of abusing housing benefit, while making life hell for the
community, should lose their right to it’ (1 October 2002). On 27 January
2004, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Chris
Pond announced that the plans had been dropped (Hansard, 27 January
2004, col. 9WS).
·
On-the-spot
cash point fines. In 2000 Tony Blair announced that: ‘A thug
might think twice about kicking your gate, throwing traffic cones around your
street, or hurling abuse into the night sky if he thought he might get picked up
by the police, taken to a cash point and asked to pay an on-the-spot fine of,
for example, £100’ (Global Ethics Foundation in Tubingen, Germany, 30 June
2000). He went on: ‘If the police want that power - and I believe they will,
and the public will support it - they should get that power’ (BBC News
Online, 30 June 2000). The
proposal was widely condemned as unworkable. As a result, the then Home Office
Minister Charles Clarke, was forced to defend the plan saying: ‘The Prime
Minister was using a metaphor when he spoke about young hooligans being frog
marched to cash points. The discussion [with police chief constables] focused on
fixed penalty fines. The idea of the police collecting money did not seem a
feasible thing to do’ (The Guardian, 4 July 2000).
Mike
Weatherley said:
“Labour
have failed to make our streets safer. Only
the Conservative by recruiting 909 extra police Officers on to our streets in
Sussex will it people to go about their business free from the fear of crime.
Also, the Sussex Police Force can be put on a much more stable footing.
The
system of annual grants would be scrapped in favour of three-year settlements.
A future Conservative Government will not hold local police to ransom by
keeping control of the purse strings. Money from central Government will come in
a block grant. The days of ring-fenced funding will come to an end. Police need
to be flexible to respond to changing circumstances.”
On
anti-social behaviour Mike said:
Conservative’s
recognise that the public want to feel that the officers there to protect them
are part of the community. So In
order to make local police accountable to local communities, Conservatives are
consulting on the following proposals
__
…we will establish a National Police Bureau
We
would set up a national bureau to be an umbrella organization reporting directly
to the Home Secretary and overseeing the National Crime Squad and the National
Criminal Intelligence Service and with appropriate liaison with the Security
Service, the Metropolitan Police, HM Customs and Excise and other relevant
agencies.
__
…we will cut back the role of the Home Secretary
We
propose that the Home Secretary should have no role in local policing other than
to take action in the most extreme circumstances, upon the recommendation of Her
Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and set the overall national level of
police grant.
__
…we will set up new and directly elected police authorities
We
believe that the functions currently executed by the Home Secretary, other than
those listed above, should be transferred to directly elected police authorities
(see below).
__
…local police authorities will control how their money is spent
We
believe the police grant should be issued as a block grant rather than specific
grants for specific purposes. Local police authorities should be accountable for
how their money is spent.
__
…the independence of chief constables will be enshrined in statute
We
believe that the independence of the police from political control
Mike
said:
“With
a Conservative Home Secretary the Police will be run by the people for the
people.”