The Tories have launched Action for Business, covering crime against businesses.
The Conservatives quote a figure that more than half of Britain’s businesses have been a victim of crime in the last year, according to the Federation of Small Businesses, while more than a third of business owners believe that reporting crime to the police “will not achieve anything”.
The Conservatives have also called for deregulation. A Conservative Government will, the Tories say, take what they call robust action to reduce business crime, including:
Scrapping Labour’s fixed penalty notices for shoplifting, and stop treating shoplifting like a parking offence
Recruiting 5,000 extra police officers a year, providing a stronger, more visible deterrent on the streets
Reviewing crime statistics to make retail crime figures more visible
Introducing new measures to combat anti-social behaviour, including lifting the restrictions on yobs cleaning up their damage; removing housing benefit; and supervision orders
Allowing business people and householders to defend their property with less fear of prosecution.
Meanwhile Labour is proposing new ‘Alcohol Disorder Zones’ and stricter regulations on clubs and bars.
Hazel Blears, Home Office Minister, speaking at a Labour Party Conference today, said: “Almost half of all violent crime is fuelled by alcohol. Binge drinking, violence and disorder are blighting too many of our town and city centres at weekends and is a responsibility for everyone in society, government, police, parents and individuals.
“Labour has already taken firm action to put in place measures to tackle yobbish drunken behaviour. We’ve given the police new powers to shut disorderly pubs and to seize alcohol from drunks on the street. Fixed penalty notices are a fast and instant way of punishing drunk and disorderly behaviour and parents have to pay the fines for under 16s. And we have clamped down on pubs and clubs selling to underage drinkers with two massive enforcement campaigns in the last nine months.
“By the end of this year our new powers in the Licensing Act means we will be able to shutdown the most troublesome pubs and clubs and attach tough conditions, such as earlier closing hours to pubs and clubs creating problems for local people. The Act will also give local councils and local people the final say in which pubs and clubs are allowed to stay open later.
“If we are re-elected we will go further in tackling alcohol fuelled violent crime and give more power to local police and councils to take the necessary action to solve the problems.
“New powers will enable the police and councils to set up Alcohol Disorder Zones, to ensure that pubs and clubs in those areas which generate the most disorder can be made to pay towards the costs of dealing with the problems and cleaning up the area. We will give councils the power to require pubs/clubs with a history of violence to use safe beer glasses and drinks bottles and ban drinking on buses and other forms of public transport.
“And we will give police will have more authority to crack down on yobs. They will be able to require at risk pubs and clubs to search for knives on entry – as a condition of their license. Immediately shut down pubs and clubs for 24 hours for persistently selling alcohol to underage drinkers. Ban drunken louts issued with FPN from all the local pubs and clubs for 24-hours. And get rid of persistent drunks with three strikes and you’re out orders banning them from pubs and bars within the local area.
“The choice in this election is clear. Labour’s tough action on drunken louts, or empty words from a desperate Tory Party, who this week launched a five-point plan most of which is either already happening or already proposed by Labour.”
Retail say
Kevin Hawkins, British Retail Consortium Director General, gives the retail reaction: “Pledges and promises to crack down on crime are easy to make, but whichever party is elected, these promises need to be kept. Crime affects every retailer and every community. The BRC crime survey last year, showed that crime cost the retail sector £1.96bn in 2003 and violence against staff increased substantially. Retail crime is not victimless – violence and its consequences for retail staff are of grave concern. In the ‘manifesto for retail’, the BRC have urged Government to take retail crime more seriously, to implement stronger penalties to deter criminals and to keep the promises they make on cutting crime. Reducing retail crime is a priority for the industry and should be a higher priority for whichever political party is elected on 6 May.”
