'Too many people don't feel safe on our streets after 13 years of Tory rule'

23 March 2023 , 17:42

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Thirteen years of Tory failure have seen confidence in policing plummet (Image: Derby Telegraph)

All of us should feel safe on our streets, in our town centres, in our own homes. When things go wrong, we need to know that the police and criminal justice system will be there for us.

But after 13 years of Conservative Government, for too many people that just doesn’t happen. We don’t see police on the beat, too few crimes are investigated or solved, serious violence has gone up, and confidence in policing has fallen.

Women and girls have been especially badly let down. Be it watching for drinks being spiked, walking home with keys clutched between their fingers or dealing with the most devastating domestic abuse, too many women just don’t get to feel safe.

This week, the Casey Review laid bare the failures by the Met Police towards women.

We know there are also serious problems with rape and domestic abuse investigations in forces across the country as well as shamefully long delays in the criminal justice system. Only 1.6% of reported rapes even resulted in a charge last year.

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'Too many people don't feel safe on our streets after 13 years of Tory rule'

Yvette Cooper promises things will be different under a Labour government (Getty Images)

We can’t stand for this any more. Today, Keir Starmer is setting out Labour’s mission to make Britain’s streets safe – including putting more police back on the beat.

At the heart of that will be a pledge that the next Labour Government will work tirelessly to halve the level of violence against women and girls within a decade.

That starts with an overhaul of the police and criminal justice response – including specialist rape investigation units in every force, specialist rape courts and more support for victims, and a proper register of domestic abuse perpetrators.

We’ll put domestic abuse experts in every 999 control centre so that from the very first moment a victim takes the huge step of calling the police they can speak to someone trained specifically to help them.

This will be work alongside our plan to restore confidence in policing with new mandatory national standards, and putting thousands more neighbourhood police back on the beat, all of them with training on domestic abuse.

We also need action to prevent violence in the first place including ensuring social media companies stop targeting children and teenage boys with extreme online misogyny.

Every Minister in a Labour government will have to play a part and we will work with organisations and communities across the country to deliver change.

We know that halving the level of violence against women and girls within a decade is no easy task but it is too important not to.

Everyone should be able to live in freedom from fear. Security is the bedrock on which all our other opportunities are built.

That is why tackling crime and violence is a part of Labour's mission.