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Lady Olga Maitland: What has this got to do with crime?
Ms Anderson: I am talking about the Government's record on Adjournment debates, and during that debate on the important issue of getting people back to work, only one Conservative Member was present--the Minister.
My hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, East (Mrs. Prentice) referred eloquently to the fear of crime, which is a particular problem for women. I shall deal with that issue later. She rightly gave credit to the police for reductions in crime.
The hon. Member for Southport (Mr. Banks), in a rather confusing speech, initially referred to Saudi Arabia rather than concentrating on crime in his constituency, but I see from the Register of Members' Interests that he has a particular interest in that area.
The hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans), whose constituency I know well since it is very close to mine, was quite right when he said that he has long had an interest in this subject. So he should, because recorded
crime in his constituency has risen by 116 per cent. since 1979. He referred especially to a debate in May, which he initiated, during which he talked about crime in his constituency. He revealed that 87 per cent. of people in Ribble Valley who had responded to his survey said that they wanted identity cards, and he pressed the Minister to introduce them.
Indeed, in April there was an article in The Observer about that very issue. The headline said:
The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Lady Olga Maitland) made a rather predictable and confusing speech, which seemed to indicate that she was not terribly happy. Her speech seemed to be an admission of the Government's failure all the way along the line. I must say to the hon. Lady that my constituents are not terribly bothered about having their antiques burgled, because very few of them are able to enjoy that particular hobby.
In the hon. Lady's constituency, recorded crime since 1979 has risen by 64 per cent. It is no wonder that, apparently, in 1991, after the hon. Lady's agent had resigned, Labour activists picketed the Tory meeting fearing that she would be dropped as their opponent.
The Home Secretary and his Ministers are very fond of boasting that their policies are reducing crime, but that claim needs to be treated with some scepticism. One by one, the Tories' traditional electoral advantages have been eroded. The voters no longer trust them to run the economy or to keep taxes down. Now the Tories have even lost their opinion-poll lead on law and order.
In 1992, during the election campaign, Labour was ahead in the polls on most policies, but when MORI asked voters which party had the best policy on law and order, the Tories were ahead by 40 per cent. to 26 per cent. By July this year, the position had been almost reversed. Labour was scoring 29 per cent. for the same question against the Tories' 23 per cent. As a recent article in The Economist pointed out,
Crime has risen relentlessly while the Conservative party has been in government, and the voters have noticed. Just as it appeared that the political argument on law and order was lost, the Government found a new weapon: the crime statistics. In 1993-94, recorded crime fell by 5 per cent., and the more recent figures showed a similar drop.
Any drop is of course to be welcomed, but why is it happening? The Government claim that their tougher penal policies deserve the credit, but if that is true, why did similar policies fail to stop the rise in crime in the early 1980s? In fact, there are plenty of other explanations, which, sadly for the Government, carry more credence.
Demographics may have something to do with it. Crimes are mostly committed by men aged between 15 and 24. The number of men in that age group is falling rapidly--from 4.5 million in 1989 to 4 million in 1993. The fewer youths around who may be disposed towards criminal activities, the fewer crimes will be committed.
The police prefer to think, with some justification, that any fall in crime is down to them. Some police forces, as the Minister said, especially those in crime-ridden inner cities, have been thinking hard about new methods of dealing with crime. Business has been doing its bit too. The rise in car crime has led manufacturers to add security features to new vehicles. As car crime accounts for almost a quarter of all recorded crime--it fell by 10 per cent. between 1993 and 1994--the security features accounted for half the drop in the total crime figure for which Ministers are always ready to take credit.
As I have said, we welcome any reduction in crime, but do the figures tell the whole truth? Figures from the latest "British Crime Survey", which has replaced the general household survey as a record of criminal activity, suggest, for example, that crime rose by 18 per cent. between 1991 and 1993, while the police recorded a rise of only 7 per cent. Insurance may account for some of the discrepancy. Insurance is increasingly expensive and sometimes unavailable for people living in the worst-hit areas. For them, the incentive to report has dropped sharply.
We can argue until the cows come home about statistics and, no doubt, Conservative Members will seek to do just that, but they dodge the real question. The real question was put in an article in the Daily Mail in April this year, a paper not known for its support for the Labour party. It said:
House of Commons Library research shows that the risk of becoming a victim of burglary and violence has risen threefold since 1979. Real crime has shown a record increase in the past 16 years. There is no doubt that crime and the fear of crime are damaging the lives of individuals and communities everywhere. As my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, East said in her excellent speech, for women the fear of crime is especially strong. All studies show that women are especially afraid, notably single women who live by themselves. Some 49 per cent. of women have admitted that they feel unsafe when walking alone after dark near where they live.
According to recent research, one person in five now carries some form of protection in case of attack when leaving home. More than one person in four has given up using public transport or walking any distance because they are frightened of being attacked. Almost nine out of 10 people feel that the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime has increased over the past 10 years. Some 21 per cent. say that they never venture into certain streets or areas, which is surely an indication that Britain is starting to become like the United States, with people regarding parts of their inner cities as no-go areas. Those are the results of a poll undertaken by MORI and broadcast on "The Fear Factor" which was part of Channel 4's "Battered Britain" series.
A recent Leicester university research study reveals that shoppers are deserting the high streets for shopping malls because they fear crime and because they feel threatened by beggars, drunks and vagrants in town centres.
Blackburn and district Age Concern, which covers part of my constituency, recently produced a survey on the fear of crime among the elderly. The survey had two aims: to find out whether the elderly were more or less worried
about crime and to find out whether the elderly were more worried about crime than younger age groups were. It showed that fear of being a victim of crime ranked high among matters of concern to the elderly. All groups in the survey were very afraid of being burgled.
The study also looked at the effect of the rift between perception and reality. It concluded that a fortress mentality could develop. Advised to seek protection through improved security within their homes, the elderly retreat into them. Visitors are greeted with suspicion, the door is not opened even to friends after teatime and a departure from home is a dangerous adventure, certainly not to be embarked on after dark. Age Concern found that when the elderly shut themselves away from human contact, the ability of Age Concern, the social services and other agencies to help them was reduced.
A report published by the Home Office in 1989 found that going out alone after dark in a dilapidated inner-city area and bumping into people who have been drinking may, along with many other things, induce or reinforce fear of crime. The report concluded that "fear reduction" must enjoy a much higher priority in action against crime by the Government. That was in 1989, and we are still waiting.
What has been the cost of that ostrich-like approach by the Government? The criminal justice system now costs every taxpayer £422 a year, and £10 million-worth of property is stolen every day. More than half of all households are not insured against loss. The cost of house and car insurance rose by more than 20 per cent. in real terms between 1988 and 1992. The cost per household of retail crime is £120 a year, the risk of becoming a victim of home burglary or of a crime of violence trebled between 1979 and 1994, and the chance of becoming a victim of car crime doubled.
Those figures show the reality of crime under the Conservative Government. The Tories may boast of a recent reduction in recorded crime, but even at the rate of last year's reduction, it will be 15 years before crime returns to the level at which it stood when the Labour Government were in office.
"Major plays ID card to trump Blair".
The article said:
"A Number 10 source said it was a question of how they were to be introduced--not whether."
I wonder what happened to that idea.
"the Tories have lost the voters' confidence on law and order less because of New Labour rhetoric than because of the facts".
"We have been told this week that recorded crime fell by 5 per cent. in England and Wales last year, according to official figures. But does anyone actually feel any safer?"
That is the real question.
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