17 February 2023 , 00:01
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Labour will introduce clean-up squads for fly-tippers and rubbish dumpers as part of wider plans to “tackle the scourge of anti-social behaviour”.
Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed will today announce tough measures to ensure offenders are “met with consequences”.
He will detail plans for people who dump rubbish to be given fixed penalty cleaning notices that will be managed by councils.
Offenders will be forced to clear up litter and vandalism they have dumped in established clean-up squads.
The Labour MP for Croydon North will also pledge to increase and strengthen the use of community sentences.
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The party says these will achieve a “double win” by tackling reoffending rates and giving a voice directly to victims and local communities.
Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed will today announce tough measures to tackle anti-social behaviour (Phil Harris)Mr Reed also wants to set up payback boards where victims and local leaders oversee community sentences to choose unpaid work that suits the needs of their area and to ensure it is carried out.
According to the latest Home Office figures, there were 1.1million incidents of anti-social behaviour recorded by police last year - more than 3,000 incidents a day.
Speaking at Middle Temple, London, Mr Reed will say: “Antisocial behaviour can leave communities feeling broken and powerless. It leads to a spiral of social and economic decline that a Labour government will not tolerate.
“As Justice Secretary, I will strengthen community sentences to tackle antisocial behaviour and petty crime. Under this government their use has fallen by a half because courts no longer have confidence sentences will ever be carried out.
“Labour will address that by giving victims and community leaders a prominent role in the oversight of the system.”
His announcements will be part of a wider speech where he will outline his plans for “the world’s first trauma-informed criminal justice system”, and vow that Labour will be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” .
It comes as Labour yesterday announced plans to increase police patrols and ramp up neighbourhood teams to tackle yobs and drug dealers.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused the Tories of failing to take action on knife crime and fraud as she pledged 13,000 more neighbourhood officers and PCSOs.
She said: “For 13 years, the Conservatives have deliberately run a hands-off Home Office, failing to take proper action on serious areas of rising crime, such as youth knife crime, drug dealing, fraud or town centre anti-social behaviour, and failing to introduce serious policing reform.
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“Their laissez-faire approach to crime and policing has badly let communities down. Labour will take a fundamentally different approach.
"We know that strong communities are safe communities. We believe in high standards in public services and in active Government.”