Starmer launches ‘Safer Communities’ campaign in Wolverhampton with pledges to tackle anti-social behaviour and end violence against women

Keir Starmer launches Labour’s Safer Communities campaign today [Thursday] with pledges to crack down on anti-social behaviour and end violence against women and girls.

Slamming the “twisted priorities” of the Conservative Party, Starmer will reiterate Labour’s commitment to scrap Boris Johnson’s vanity yacht project and redirect the £283m cost to communities blighted by anti-social behaviour.

Over the coming weeks, Labour’s Safer Communities campaign will engage with residents up and down the country about antisocial behaviour in their community. The campaign will also outline how Labour would work towards ending violence against women and girls, and reform rights for victims of crime.

The Labour leader kicks off the campaign on a two-day visit to Wolverhampton, part of Starmer’s summer taking Labour’s offer on the road and into communities. He will hold a series of meetings and events, including a walkabout with local police officers and West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster.

Starmer will also meet community projects and local employers to discuss Labour’s plans to keep our communities safe.

Highlighting the impact cuts to policing and justice under the Conservatives, Starmer will warn that “every person and every family have a basic right to feel safe in their community, but under the Conservatives things are only getting worse”.

Labour’s plans to change course and make our communities safer include:

· A new £283m fund for areas blighted by high levels of anti-social behaviour, redirected from the Prime Minister's vanity yacht project. The additional funding could be used for surge funding for police officer and PCSOs, for helping councils fund enforcement or to pay for additional CCTV.

· Strengthening of legal protections for victims of anti-social behaviour to give victims of persistent, unresolved anti-social behaviour the same rights that the Labour Party is proposing to enshrine for victims of crime.

· A set of proposals to end violence against women and girls, including increasing sentences for rape and stalking, reviewing sentencing for all domestic abuse, and better support for victims of rape and sexual violence – delivering where the Conservatives have failed to step up.

Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking ahead of the visit, said:

“Every person and every family has a basic right to feel safe in their community, but under the Conservatives things are only getting worse. They cut our police to the lowest level in a generation and decimated the services that help prevent crime.

“As a result, we’ve seen antisocial behaviour skyrocketing, criminal gangs exploiting kids to send drugs around the country and an epidemic of violence against women and girls. It says everything about the twisted priorities of the Conservatives that instead of tackling this, Boris Johnson wants to waste taxpayer money on a yacht.

“This summer, Labour will campaign for safer communities. That means more police to tackle crime, anti-social behaviour, and dangerous driving. It means restoring youth projects and treatment services, and it means real support for victims.

“Labour will always prioritise keeping you, your family and your community safe.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

Labour’s plan for safer communities

1. Labour would create a new £283m fund for areas blighted by high levels of anti-social behaviour, redirected from the Prime Minister's new vanity yacht project. The additional funding for agencies would ramp up enforcement in hot spot areas, and could be used to:

· provide surge funding for police officer and PCSOs enforcement in ASB hot spots;

· help council fund enforcement officers; and

· pay for additional CCTV.

2. Labour would strengthen legal protections for victims of anti-social behaviour to give victims of persistent, unresolved anti-social behaviour the same rights that the Labour Party is proposing to enshrine for victims of crime. These rights for victims include:

· right to regular information;

· right for victims to make a personal statement to be read out at court; and the

· right for access to special measures at court including video link where appropriate.

3. Labour is also calling on the Government to encourage greater use of Community Triggers to deliver quicker action on anti-social behaviour. Specifically:

· the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced the Community Trigger, which gives victims of persistent anti-social behaviour reported to any of the main responsible agencies (such as the council, police, housing provider) the right to request a multi-agency case review of their case where a local threshold is met;

· if the victim (or others) have report an incident 3 or more times within a 6 month period you can activate the Community through your Local Authority;

· each threshold for the Community Trigger is set locally, so the threshold can be lower than three times in six months; and

· in Brighton and Hove, the trigger can be activated if just one incident has been reported and no action has been taken after a week.

4. Introduce new legislation to clamp down on the dangerous driving and misuse of high-powered cars to help communities that are being terrorised by dangerous driving – like speeding, misusing off road bikes and racing high powered cars. Specifically:

· Labour has a plan to legislate to require 'black box' to be fixed to high powered rental cars, to ensure they are tracked and can be reported to the police if misused; and

· Labour tabled amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to address the rental of high performance vehicles. However, the Conservatives voted against adding this proposed amendment into the Bill.

Labour’s proposals to end violence against women and girls

Where the Conservatives have failed to step up, Labour have stepped in by publishing a Green Paper which sets out a suite of proposals on ending the epidemic of violence against women and girls.

· Increasing sentences for rape and stalking, reviewing sentencing for all domestic abuse with a view to increase sentences for domestic murder and introducing whole life tariffs for those found guilty of rape, abduction and murder.

· Introducing a survivor support package to improve victims’ experience in the courts, including fast tracking rape and sexual violence cases, legal help for victims and better training for professionals to give people the help they need

· Removing legal barriers that prevent victims of domestic abuse getting the help they need, such as through legal aid and ‘no recourse to public funds’

· Bringing in new custodial sentences for those who name victims of rape and sexual assault

· Introducing new measures for those who face additional barriers to protection and support, such as migrant, Black, Asian and ethnic minority, LGBT+, and disabled women and girls

· Training for teachers to help identify, respond to and support child victims of domestic abuse

· Introducing criminal sanctions for tech executives who do not act fast enough to remove misogynistic abuse on their platforms

· Repealing the rape clause for social security claims, reviewing single payments for Universal Credit and ending the five week wait, to ensure domestic abuse survivors can access the support they need quickly

Labour’s plan to put victims first

Justice delayed is justice denied. But a decade of Conservative cuts has pushed the justice system to the brink of collapse. Labour will make sure victims come first in the criminal justice system. Labour’s bill would put key victims' rights on a statutory footing, including:

· Right for victims to be read their rights at the point of reporting, or otherwise as soon as possible (as with offenders)

· Right to regular information

· Right for victims to make a personal statement to be read out at court

· Right for access to special measures at court (e.g. videolinks) where appropriate

· Victims of persistent, unresolved anti-social behaviour to be given support for the first time

· New sanctions for non-compliance with victims’ rights, including a register of criminal justice professionals who have persistently failed to uphold victims' rights

· Introduction of local Victims' Strategies with mandatory Equality Impact Assessments, to be delivered by local partnership boards

· Role of the Victims’ Commissioner enhanced, including through a statutory duty on agencies to share data / cooperate, and an annual report to be delivered to Parliament

· Guarantee of equal treatment to victims with insecure immigration status, and victims’ training for frontline agencies to be informed by principles of trauma care

· Statutory duty on agencies to report concerns around child sexual / criminal exploitation

· Ability to review decisions for criminal cases