Howard and Blair trade blows on violent crime
Violent crime topped the agenda for Prime Minister’s Question Time this lunchtime, with the Conservative leader accusing Tony Blair of presiding over a government that has “lost control” of crime.
Michael Howard said violent crime was up 83 per cent, gun crime had doubled under Labour, and “the fight against crime is being lost and crime is out of control”
But Mr Blair pointed to changes in the recording of violent crime, with the recent inclusion of domestic violence in statistics and reminded the House that, according to the British Crime Survey, crime doubled under the Conservatives.
On gun crime, he said anyone caught carrying a firearm would face a minimum sentence of five years, and pledged to “increase the rate in which we catch and convict people”. The Government would continue to tighten laws on violent crime, with new legislative measures announced in the Queen’s speech, he added
Continuing the trade in statistics, Mr Howard focused on recorded crime, stating, “crime fell by 18 per cent when I was Home Secretary”. On detection rates, he pointed out that current figures show detection for violent crime has reduced by 35 per cent and sexual offences by half.
“Criminals now have a better chance of committing a crime and getting away with it than in the past twenty years”, he claimed.
Mr Blair admitted that “violent crime and gun crime is too high”, but said that the trend had been developing for many years and “is an issue here and in many other countries”.
He poured scorn on Mr Howard’s rejection of the British Crime Survey, saying it was the most authoritative crime survey in existence, and that “on any basis crime under this Government has fallen” – whilst crime “doubled under the Conservatives.”
