Cameron blasts ‘stew’ of crime and drugs
By politics.co.uk staff
David Cameron has renewed his focus on the ‘broken society’ with a keynote speech addressing the “stew” of crime and drugs in inner city Britain.
The Tory leader cited crime, addiction, anti-social behaviour and poverty as the causes behind the breakdown in British society.
But opponents reiterated their own complaints against Mr Cameron’s repeated statements on the theme, namely that he is talking down Britain and over-publicising the negative aspects of the country.
But while Mr Cameron conceeded there has “always been violence”, he suggested the frequency and depravity had increased.
“There is something about the frequency of these crimes – the depravity of these crimes, that betrays a deep and fundamental problem in Britain today,” he said.
“As I have argued for many years now, these acts of murder and abuse are just the most violent and horrific expressions of what I have called the broken society.
“I know I’ve been criticised for saying our society is broken and I know I will be again. But I am saying this as I see it.”
Speaking on the Today programme this morning home secretary Alan Johnson stressed that violent crime had fallen and that the broken society theme was “claptrap”.
