PM: Stop and search ‘kind and loving’ way to get weapons off streets
The prime minister has defended plans to widen police use of stop and search powers, describing it as a “kind and loving” way to get dangerous weapons off the streets.
Speaking as the government set out its new Beating Crime Plan for England and Wales, Boris Johnson said stop and search was not a “strong-arm” tactic and plays an “important part in fighting crime”.
The blueprint includes a permanent relaxing of conditions on the use of Section 60 stop and search powers, which allow officers to search someone without reasonable grounds in an area where serious violence is expected.
The conditions on use of stop and search powers will be ‘permanently relaxed’ under the new plan
“They are not the only tool that we have got to use. They are part of a range of things we have got to do to fight street crime,” the PM said when asked about stop and search during a broadcast pool clip.
“I think that giving the police the backing that they need in law to stop someone, to search them, to relieve them of a dangerous weapon – I don’t think that’s strong-arm tactics, I think that’s a kind and loving thing to do.
“The people who often support stop and search most passionately are the parents of the kids who are likely themselves to be the victims of knife crime.”
Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News earlier, policing minister Kit Malthouse defended the plans to relax rules on the use of police stop and search.
He said that although it is not a “long-term solution” it can have a “big impact on suppressing knife crime” in the short term.
But human rights organisation Liberty has said easing the restrictions will “compound discrimination”.
Mr Johnson, who made the comments during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters alongside Home Secretary Priti Patel, also said he wanted hi-vis “chain gangs” to act as a deterrent against anti-social behaviour.
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Police pay freeze is ‘tough’
The PM said he wanted those who engage in such behaviour to be “properly paying their debt to society”, adding: “Somebody’s anti-social behaviour may be treated as a minor crime but it could be deeply distressing to those who are victims.
“If you are guilty of anti-social behaviour and you are sentenced to unpaid work, as many people are, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society.
“So you are going to be seeing more of that as well.”
Other measures contained in the government’s plan include the creation of league tables for 101 and 999 call answering times so the public can see how quickly their local force is responding to calls for help.
The initiative will also ensure every neighbourhood in England and Wales is allocated a named and contactable police officer dedicated to serving their area.
But the PM is facing anger from police officers over elements of the plan, as well as a pay freeze.
The Police Federation of England and Wales passed a motion of no confidence in the home secretary last week
John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, will deliver a letter to Downing Street on Tuesday.
“Police officers are sick of gimmicks. Sick of underfunding. Sick of mixed messaging putting police at risk. Sick of government contempt for police,” it says.
“It’s time for a total reset of police-government relations.”
The body, which represents more than 130,000 officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector, passed a motion of no confidence in the home secretary last week in a row over pay.
Surrey Police Federation criticised the pair’s visit, with chairwoman Mel Warnes saying: “Our colleagues should not be used as public relations pawns by politicians.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters in Guildford, Surrey
“I very much doubt any of our colleagues will be smiling at the thought of meeting two people who have decided against giving them any sort of pay rise despite everything police officers across the country have done these past 18 months.
“Police officers have given everything. The government has given us nothing.”
Other measures proposed include:
• The 24 hour-a-day monitoring of burglars and thieves using electronic surveillance
• Permanently relaxing conditions on the use of stop and search powers to take more knives off the streets
• Getting offenders to clean up streets, alleys, estates and open spaces
• A new £17m package for Violence Reduction Units to divert individuals away from violence
• Rolling out two further rounds of the Safer Streets Fund including increased lighting and CCTV
• Enhancing the role of Police and Crime Commissioners by giving them the tools they need to drive down crime
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Labour accused the government of being “all talk and no action” on crime and offering “rehashed policies” that “won’t make our streets safer”.
“On their watch, police numbers are down and community policing has been decimated,” shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said.
“Coupled with an insulting pay freeze, it is no wonder frontline police have declared no confidence in the home secretary.
“There are already targets in place for emergency response times and having named officers in wards is not enough to make up for the devastating scale of Conservative cuts to community policing that drove police numbers down by 21,000.
“Little wonder that, on their watch, anti-social behaviour is rocketing, there are record low convictions for rape, and violent crime is devastating communities across the country.”
Vote counting is under way after polls closed in local elections taking place across England and Wales.
More than 2,600 council seats across 107 councils are up for grabs in England, alongside 11 mayoral elections, a parliamentary seat and police and crime commissioners throughout England and Wales.
Polls opened at 7am and closed at 10pm.
Local elections: Follow the results live
Sky News will be covering the results overnight with a special programme hosted by Jonathan Samuels beginning at midnight, and coverage into the weekend.
The results unfolding in the next hours and days will give an indicator of public opinion on the political parties as the UK heads towards a general election.
Labour is hoping to make gains across the country, while the Conservatives will hope to minimise losses as they sit around 20 points behind the opposition in the polls.
Keen attention will be paid to the mayoral races being held in the West Midlands and the Tees Valley – Red Wall seats that the Conservatives won under Boris Johnson with mayors Andy Street and Lord Ben Houchen respectively.
Losses there could prove difficult for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – with rumours that if both turn red it could spark a leadership contest.
Labour‘s Sadiq Khan is hoping to win a record third term as the mayor of London, running against the Conservative’s Susan Hall, with 25 seats on the London Assembly also up for grabs.
Read more on local elections:
What does victory and defeat look like – Beth Rigby
How key areas are predicted to vote – Sam Coates
There are further mayoral elections in the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, the North East, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and York & North Yorkshire. An election is also taking place for the Salford city mayor.
A parliamentary by-election is taking place in Blackpool South to replace the former Conservative MP Scott Benton, who left parliament following a lobbying scandal.
The Tories are defending a majority of 3,690 – much smaller than several of those overturned by Labour in recent years.
In total, 37 police and crime commissioners are being elected across England and Wales – although two of those PCC roles are being absorbed into a mayor’s responsibilities, in South Yorkshire and York & North Yorkshire.
Speaking on the Political Currency podcast, former Conservative chancellor George Osborne said losing the West Midlands would be “pretty bad” for Mr Sunak, while losing the Tees Valley would be “armageddon”.
“There will be people in the Conservative Parliamentary Party saying, ‘Change course, change leader’,” he said, adding: “You would never have guessed 20 years ago that the future of the Tory leadership would depend on how people are voting in Teesside. But I think right now, that is the case.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The last time these council elections took place, the then prime minister Boris Johnson was riding high in the polls following the success of the vaccine rollout – taking his party to their best performance in the locals since 2008.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it was going to be “difficult to achieve on that”.
Asked if this was an admission the party is less popular under Mr Sunak than it was under Mr Johnson, Mr Harper said it was the context of having a “vaccine bounce” and coming out of the pandemic that made the party popular in 2021.
And Mr Sunak was at the time “the chancellor, who found the money to pay for rolling the vaccine out”.
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Local elections: Why they matter
In last year’s local elections – which were for different areas – Labour snatched key battlegrounds from the Conservatives but not at a rate high enough to indicate the opposition was on course to win if a general election took place.
This key metric, known as National Equivalent Vote (NEV), will be tracked over the weekend by Sky News election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher.
Asked what success would look like, Labour’s shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said his party is looking at the Blackpool South by-election “which is the only result where Rishi Sunak and the government are really on the ballot paper”.
A win there will show “real progress”, Mr McFadden said.
Asked about his party’s prospects in Tees Valley and the West Midlands, the veteran Labour MP said the Tories hanging on would “only be because they put as much distance as possible between themselves and Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party brand”.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The Liberal Democrats will also hope to pick up some wins after targeting so-called Blue Wall areas that traditionally vote Conservative.
Speaking after the polls closed, party leader Sir Ed Davey said: “The message across the country today was loud and clear. Voters want an end to this appalling Conservative government.
“That is why, up and down the country, so many lifelong Conservative voters backed the Liberal Democrats today, because they know Liberal Democrat councillors will never take them for granted and fight for the issues they care about.”
How many seats/councils are parties defending?
The Conservatives are defending 985 seats, Labour 965 and the Liberal Democrats 410.
The Greens hold 107 seats, while independents have 112 and other parties the remaining 57.
Labour currently has majority control in 45 of the 107 councils. The Conservatives control 18 and the Lib Dems 10.
Just under a third, 34 councils, are under no overall control.
Key battlegrounds
After a survey of 9,000 people, this is how YouGov thinks these key votes will go
When it comes to councils, areas to watch out for include Hyndburn, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Tamworth, Reigate and Banstead, Hull, Walsall, Colchester, Stockport, Sheffield, Solihull, North East Lincolnshire, Lincoln, Peterborough, Rugby and Thurrock.
Sky News and YouGov asked around 9,000 people how they intend to vote, and used this to forecast how these will change.
Labour looks set to make a number of gains – although some races are too close to call.
Follow our live coverage of the election results from midnight – find the full details here
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