Labour pledges to ‘rebuild safety on Britain’s streets’ – as Tories go on VAT attack

Published

4 months ago

May 30, 2024

admin

Labour will promise to “get police back out in the community” as they focus their campaigning on tackling crime.

Speaking on Thursday, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper will reiterate the party’s pledge to put 13,000 neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs “back on the beat in communities across the country”, saying there will be “guaranteed neighbourhood patrols” to ensure their presence is visible to deter crime, as well as being able to catch criminals.

She will also vow to run a “hands-on Home Office” to regularly assess the department’s progress against Labour’s “missions” for government – which include cracking down on anti-social behaviour.

Politics live: Abbott tells rally she won’t be ‘intimidated’

Ms Cooper said: “On Rishi Sunak’s watch, 90% of crimes are going unsolved and knife-wielding muggers, phone thieves and pickpockets can get away with menacing our town centres and neighbourhoods.

“Ministers have done nothing to tackle the new organised crime wave that is hitting local shops and streets. That is the Tory legacy on law and order, and our communities are paying the price.

“Enough is enough. Labour will rebuild safety on Britain’s streets and take back our town centres from thugs and thieves, with 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat in our communities, tough new powers to crackdown on those who cause havoc on our high streets, and a mission to reverse the collapse in the number of crimes being solved.

“Labour will put an end to Tory chaos and be a government of law and order, putting the safety and security of our communities at its heart and taking back our streets”.

But policing minister Chris Philp said the policy “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”, adding: “Only 3,000 of their proposed new officers would be full time officers with the power of arrest and 3,000 of them are officers this government has already recruited.

“Contrast that with the Conservatives who have recruited record police numbers with 20,000 more since 2019.

“The choice is clear in this election, stick with the bold action and clear plan under Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives that has driven crime down by 54% since 2010, or go back to square one with Labour.”

On day eight of the election campaign, the Conservatives will go on the attack – aiming their punches at Labour’s “chaotic” economic policy.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt accused his opposite number, Rachel Reeves, of “buckling under pressure” to rule out raising VAT in the next parliament, having “carefully and deliberately” avoided doing so all week – including in an interview with Sky News’ Sam Coates.

After the minister wrote in the Telegraph that Labour would “raid” VAT to pay for its policies, Ms Reeves released a statement calling it “absolute nonsense”, adding: “Labour will not be increasing income tax, national insurance, or VAT.”

Mr Hunt then accused her of “flip-flopping” and saying what he believed was a change in policy “demonstrates that Labour don’t have a plan for the economy”.

Meanwhile, the SNP will appeal to young people out on the campaign trail on Thursday, with First Minister John Swinney saying “an entire generation has been robbed of opportunity” because of austerity, Brexit and the cost of living crisis.

And the Liberal Democrats will be calling for a mental health professional in every primary and secondary school, with party leader Sir Ed Davey claiming the Tories had “abandoned parents and children”.

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

10 hours ago

September 21, 2024

admin

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

Follow the latest on politics

She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.