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Rugby Liberal DemocratsCampaigning for a fresh start |
LOCAL MP ATTACKED OVER FAILURE TO BACK CRIME FIGHTING PLAN
February 13, 2007 12:33 PM
Press Release
Local Lib Dem Councillors working with Police. Eastlands & Paddox Councillors Neil Sandison and Noreen New meet with the Neighbourhood team
Rugby Liberal democrats
LOCAL MP ATTACKED OVER FAILURE TO BACK CRIME FIGHTING PLAN
Local Conservative MP Jeremy Wright is under fire over his failure to back a Liberal Democrat plan to cut crime.
The Liberal Democrat proposals were put to a vote in the House of Commons but were voted down by Labour MPs, with Conservative MPs not bothering to vote at all.
Jerry Roodhouse Liberal Democrat spokesman said:
"If we've learnt one thing from Labour and Conservative governments in the last twenty years, it is that tough talk alone doesn't tackle crime. We've had ten years of a Labour government talking tough, but failing to act. Violent crime has doubled and conviction rates have never been lower. Before that we had a tough talking Conservative government that cut the number of police!
"That's why the Liberal Democrats' new "We can cut crime!" campaign is about effective action on crime. Our proposals to cut crime are principled and practical: making prison work to cut repeat crime; giving victims fair compensation; using money for more police, not ID cards; honesty and transparency in sentencing.
"It is disappointing that Jeremy Wright and his Conservative colleagues are unwilling to support the Liberal Democrat plan to cut crime. The Tories put forward no proposals of their own last week. They proposed no amendment to our motion and their spokesman's speech was a policy free zone. For all their talk about opposing ID cards when it came to voting to scrap them the Tories chickened out.@
Jerry Roodhouse says
"Too many local people are living in fear of crime and are worried to go out after dark. Too many people are having their lives ruined by anti-social behaviour. It's time to fight back. And that's exactly what the Liberal Democrat crime plan would do."
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Liberal Democrat proposals to cut crime, or practical measures to make your home safer, should look at our website - www.wecancutcrime.com.
END
Contact Jerry Roodhouse 07768 058353
Full text of Liberal Democrat motion put to the House of Commons, 07/02/07 -
GOVERNMENT'S RECORD ON CRIME
That this House
• notes the increasing evidence of a crisis in the criminal justice system, with
o excessive levels of prison overcrowding,
o failure to tackle rising reoffending rates,
o unacceptable breach rates of the Government's anti-social behaviour measures,
o widespread public fear of crime and the judiciary's concern over Government sentencing policy;
• believes that a new direction in Government policy prioritising administrative competence over media-driven legislative initiatives is urgently required;
• calls on the Government to make prison work by
o tripling the numbers of prisoners doing paid work and
o making education and training compulsory, with
o contributions from earnings going towards a victim compensation fund;
• calls for measures to allow sentences to mean what they say;
• further calls for the abandonment of the expensive identity cards scheme to allow funding for a sustainable increase in police numbers;
• urges the Government to divert money allocated to the latest prison building programme towards the expansion of secure and semi-secure mental health treatment facilities; and
• further calls on the Government to
o increase the use of restorative community justice panels to help reduce repeat crime,
o increase the use of rigorous and visible non-custodial sentences as a viable alternative to short-term prison sentences and
change licensing provision to give local communities greater say over the closure of pubs and clubs which contribute to alcohol-fuelled violence.
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