Letwin attacks Britain’s growing gun culture
Conservative Party home affairs spokesman Oliver Letwin has called for a clamp down on Britain’s growing gun culture.
His warning came after three separate gun-related incidents in the last week that left two and several people injured.
The last shooting put three men in hospital after an assumed drive-by shooting in Reading, Berkshire, at about 22:30BST on Friday night.
The men were blasted with a shotgun.
In Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire 32-year-old David King of Stevenage was killed and another wounded after a ‘targeted’ attack.
And on Tuesday, there was a fatal shooting at a jeweller’s shop in Arnold, Nottinghamshire.
Shop owner, Marian Bates, was killed after trying to prevent robbers from shooting her daughter, Xanthe.
In a statement, Mr Letwin likened “Blair’s Britain” to Baghdad.
Mr Letwin said his party had announced a strategy to support witnesses, bring more criminals to justice and put 40,000 extra bobbies on the beat.
“Gun crime has nearly doubled since 1997, with no effective police presence on the streets and no effective programme of intensive abstinence-based treatment for hard drug users.
“Too many of our estates are under the control of gangs instead of the police.”
“These shootings are the most dramatic symptom of that appalling state of affairs.”
Mr Letwin defended Tory party policy which commits itself to a 10-fold increase in serious compulsory treatment for young hard drug addicts and 40,000 extra bobbies on the beat.
“We believe we need 40,000 more police officers in this country than we had last year – and we don’t need 10,000 additional administrators in the Home Office. The Home Secretary should continue increasing police numbers at this rate, but he should also start decreasing the number of administrators in the Home Office.
“The recent rise in police numbers shows that the Conservative Party’s commitment to increase the number of police officers by 5,000 each year for eight years is thoroughly achievable.”
