Fly-tippers to get points on driving licences and nuisance tenants will be kicked out under Tory plans

Published

4 months ago

May 31, 2024

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People caught fly-tipping will get points on their driving licences if the Conservatives win the next general election.

Rishi Sunak will make the announcement on Friday as part of his party’s election campaign, promising to crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Other measures will include a new “three strikes and you’re out” system for nuisance social housing tenants and the rolling out of its “hot spot” policing programme across England and Wales to increase patrolling in the worst affected areas.

The prime minister said the “bold action” would “stop anti-social behaviour in its tracks”.

But Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the policies were “more empty words from a chaotic Tory Party” which had “let anti-social behaviour run rampant” while in power.

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Fly-tipping is already illegal and can see people facing a fine of £1,000. But the Conservatives said their “no tolerance” approach would mean offenders could end up losing their licences or even in prison due to the points being added.

For anti-social tenants, the party said local authorities and housing associations would be “expected” to evict tenants after three proven instances of anti-social behaviour.

And the policing programme would copy a pilot the government has run in 10 areas, which it said led to nearly 800 arrests, close to 2,000 stop and searches and almost 1,000 uses of anti-social behaviour powers, such as community protection notices and public protection orders.

“Everyone has the right to feel safe in their neighbourhood and a sense of pride in the place they call home,” Mr Sunak will say.

“The Conservatives are the only ones with a clear plan to ensure safety, security and prosperity in your local community and your high street.

“We will take the bold action needed to crack down on fly-tipping, evict nuisance tenants and stop anti-social behaviour in its tracks so we can build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.”

But Ms Cooper claimed there had been more than one million fly-tipping incidents in the last year alone, “yet the Tories repeatedly failed to implement their own policies and promises”.

She added: “Who does Rishi Sunak think is going to enforce any action on anti-social behaviour when the Tories have cut 10,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs in the last eight years?

“Labour will take back our streets from those piling misery onto our communities. We’ll put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat, with 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.”

The Liberal Democrats’ local government spokesperson Helen Morgan accused the Tories of “effectively legalising littering” during their tenure, saying fines were “so low that people are being let off scot-free up and down the country”.

She added: “The Conservatives have had years to get tough on fly-tippers and litterers but have failed at every turn.

“The Liberal Democrats are calling for real action against fly-tippers by increasing fines and using the profits to crack down on this anti-social crime.”

While the Tories focus on tackling crime, Labour will make a pledge to get started on their Great British Energy plan “within months” of taking office.

First announced at the party’s conference in 2022, the publicly-owned company will focus on green renewable energy, such as wind and solar, in an attempt to cut bills and make the country self-reliant.

Elsewhere, the SNP will make a fresh demand on Labour if they win power – calling on them to commit to an emergency budget immediately after the election to “reverse Tory austerity cuts, boost NHS funding, and invest in economic growth”.

Politics

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

Published

7 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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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”.

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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.”

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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.