Conservatives launch plan to take back our streets

Today [Saturday 7^th of March 2026], the Conservative Party has set out its new plan to take back our streets.  

The next Conservative Government will restore visible policing and clear consequences for the anti-social behaviour and street disorder that are making too many communities feel unsafe. 

Britain has become measurably more disorderly. People see cannabis being smoked openly, watch shoplifters walk out of stores with no fear, dodge illegal e-scooters and high-powered e-bikes on pavements, live with graffiti, intimidation, and public disorder as the background noise of daily life. It feels like the rules are optional for the few, while the law-abiding majority are left to put up with the consequences. 

Police recorded around 1 million incidents of anti-social behaviour in the year to September 2025, and surveys show more than a third of the public have personally experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour during the same period. Knife crime remains at worrying levels with almost 50,000 incidents in the past year, while shoplifting has surged to 519,000 offences, a 10 per cent rise since the 2024 General Election. This is only going to get worse as Labour's policies of early release for prisoners come into effect. From the scheme's introduction in September 2024 to September 2025, 48,932 prisoners have been released early under SDS40. 

The Conservative Party's plan to Reclaim our Streets focuses on restoring order, supporting the police to act decisively, and ensuring that visible rule-breaking no longer goes unchallenged. The plan has eight core measures. 

1. Conservatives will recruit 10,000 extra police officers and deploy hotspot patrolling across the 2,000 highest-crime neighbourhoods.  

A quarter of all crime occurs in just 5 per cent of neighbourhoods. Concentrating visible policing in these places prevents offences and deters repeat offending. Our plan to hire 10,000 more officers will allow us to concentrate police presence in these areas and prevent around 35,000 crimes, including violence, theft, anti-social behaviour and public drug use. 

1. Conservatives will triple the use of Stop and Search to take knives and drugs off the streets and increase arrests.  

Stop and Search is one of the most effective tools for removing weapons and drugs and disrupting violent gangs. But political pressure not to use stop and search is shackling the police.  We will roll out stronger Section 60 coverage in hotspot areas and lower the bar to using stop and search by allowing officers to act on a single suspicion indicator outside those hotspots. This will deliver around one million additional searches a year and, based on detection rates, around 300,000 more arrests. 

1. Conservatives will roll out Live Facial Recognition in crime hotspots to catch wanted criminals.  

Trials have already shown strong results, including 1,000 arrests of wanted criminals during a Metropolitan Police trial and a 12 per cent reduction in crime in Croydon town centre. Expanding its use in the 100 highest crime areas is expected to lead to around 22,000 arrests of wanted offenders. 

1. Conservatives will bring in “Immediate Justice” for low-level offences.  

Under this approach, police rather than courts will be able to issue swift, visible community sentences for offences such as criminal damage, drunk and disorderly behaviour, harassment without violence, minor assault and first-time drug possession. We will require offenders to clean graffiti, tidy parks and repair community spaces. These community penalties could deliver around 2 million hours of visible clean-up work while reinforcing consequences for offences. 

1. Conservatives will crack down on cannabis and end the culture of police walking by.  

 Two-thirds of police officers believe it cannabis use has effectively been decriminalised – in other words, the law is not being enforced. A walk-on-by culture has developed, not least because of political pressure from local leaders like Sadiq Khan. Even where the police do stop people, it often only leads to an informal on-street warning. Under the Conservative proposal, police would be required to intervene in all cases of cannabis possession, issuing formal cautions or Immediate Justice assignments for first offences, and automatic prosecution in magistrates' courts for repeat offences. 

1. Conservatives will put public safety first in the management of serious mental illness, overturning the ideology that has undermined public safety and the wellbeing of patients.  

We will overhaul Labour's Mental Health Act and stamp out the ideology that has seen an obsession with racial targets put ahead of public safety - with tragic consequences. An excessive focus on reducing the use of sectioning on racial grounds, is allowing seriously mentally ill individuals to remain in communities, when they should be detained for the safety of the public and themselves. 

1. Conservatives will curb dangerous e-bikes and e-scooters on pavements, mandating police intervention and strengthening penalties.  

These vehicles are increasingly used for snatch theft and to evade pursuit, and they pose a direct risk to pedestrians, particularly children and the elderly. Conservatives will update the law and raise penalties, so enforcement has real bite. 

1. Conservatives will stamp out ghost plates that evade ANPR, enabling organised crime, dangerous driving, and wider lawlessness.  

Current penalties do not reflect the seriousness of number plate fraud which enables serious and organised crime. Conservatives will introduce tougher criminal consequences for manufacturing, selling, and using ANPR-evading plates, and will target the supply chain that makes this possible. 

Britain works best when the rules are clear and enforced. The Conservative plan to take back our streets will restore visible policing, back officers to act decisively, and ensure that crime and anti-social behaviour face real consequences. 

Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, said: 

“People across Britain want the same basic thing - to feel safe in their own streets and communities. But Labour are more concerned with playing nice and worrying about the ‘rights' of criminals than standing up for the people who play by the rules. 

“Conservatives are clear about whose side we are on and we will always support those who work hard and do the right thing. That is why are we announcing a new plan to take back our streets and fight crime. 10,000 more police and tough, sensible policies to stop public drug taking and tackle graffiti and shoplifting.   

“Labour have no answers. They let thousands of criminals back onto our streets, with some going on to commit terrible crimes - one has been charged with murder.  

“Only the Conservatives, under my leadership, are doing the hard work needed to develop a real plan to get Britain working again.” 

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: 

“Anti-social behaviour, crime, and disorder destroys our high streets and undermines our society. It also allows more serous offending to take root.

“Graffiti, open use of drugs, phone theft, and rampant shoplifting. We can all see it happening in Labour's Britain. 

“We need a zero-tolerance approach. No crime should be ignored. It's time to restore the rights of the law-abiding majority and put criminals in jail. It's time to take back the streets.” 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors: 

Background:  

• Police in England and Wales recorded around 1 million incidents of anti-social behaviour in the year to September 2025. According to ONS surveys, over a third of the public have personally experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour during that period – a shocking figure that highlights how widespread the problem has become (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2025, 29 January 2026, link). 

• Knife crime remains at alarming levels – with almost 50,000 knife incidents in the past year (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2025, 29 January 2026, link). 

• Shoplifting has increased by 10 per cent since the 2024 General Election, with 519,000 reported incidents in the year ending September 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2025, 29 January 2026, link). 

• The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that an estimated 38 per cent of people experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour in 2024/2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2025, 29 January 2026, link). 

• In 2008/2009, police conducted 1.52 million Stop & Searches nationwide, but by 2024/2025 the number was down to 528,000 (Home Office, Stop and Search data tables year ending 31 March 2025, 6 November 2025, link). 

• Cannabis is Britain's most commonly used illicit drug. 6.8 per cent of adults, or around 2.3 million people used it in the last year (ONS, Drug misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2025, 11 December 2025, link). 

• Two-thirds of officers believing that cannabis has been decriminalised in practice. As a result, cannabis possession has a much lower charge or summons rate (16.7 per cent) than for other drug possession offences (29.7 per cent) (Home Office, Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2024 to 2025, 5 August 2025, link). 

• Labour have released 48,932 prisoners early under SDS40. Beginning in September 2024, Labour have released 48,932 prisoners early (MoJ, Transparency Data: Standard Determinate Sentences 40 per cent (SDS40) Detailed Data, 29 January 2026, link). 

The Conservatives plan to reclaim our streets: 

1. Deploy 10,000 extra police and introduce hotspot patrolling. A quarter of all crime happens in just five per cent of neighbourhoods. We will use our investment in 10,000 extra police officers to introduce intense hotspot patrolling of these 2,000 crime hotspot areas, which will prevent an estimated 35,000 crimes and deter anti-social behaviour, public drug consumption, shoplifting and knife crime.  

2. Triple Stop & Search to take knives and drugs off the streets. We will fight knife crime and drug possession by rolling out permanent ‘Section 60' orders in the 2,000 worst crime hotspot areas. This enables police to search anyone they have reason to search without meeting the normal higher legal tests. Across the country we will take a common-sense approach to enable more stop and search by allowing police to search on the basis of a single suspicion indicator elsewhere. This will lead to 1 million more Stop & Searches and 300,000 more arrests (Home Office, Stop and Search data tables year ending 31 March 2025, 6 November 2025, link). 

3. Roll out Live Facial Recognition in crime hotspots across the country (LFR).  Live Facial Recognition is a breakthrough technology to fight crime. A Met Police trial in 2024 saw 1,000 known criminals arrested, and when used in Croydon Town Centre, there was a 12 per cent reduction in crime in a year. Rolling out routine LFR to the 100 highest crime areas will deliver an estimated 22,000 arrests of wanted criminals (City News, 22 January 2026, link). 

4. ‘Immediate Justice' assignments, issued by police. Timely community sentences issued by police, so those committing lower-level offences clean up our streets and parks, clear up graffiti, and make our communities tidier and more orderly, for offences like criminal damage, minor or common assault, drunk and disorderly, or a first drug possession offence. They will enable police to issue an estimated 2 million hours of graffiti cleaning and clearing up parks and public areas.    

5. Crack down on cannabis. Cannabis is a gateway to more serious drug use and can cause severe psychosis, yet two-thirds of police officers think that cannabis has been decriminalised in practice. At present the police often walk on by or if they do stop someone they often simply give an informal warning on the street which is not recorded.  We will mandate the police to always intervene. First time offenders will get a formal, on-the-record caution or an Immediate Justice assignment. We will introduce automatic prosecution in a Magistrates Court for all second offences.  

6. Put public safety first when dealing with mentally ill people.  We will overhaul Labour's Mental Health Act and stamp out the ideology that has seen an obsession with racial targets put ahead of public safety - with tragic consequences. An excessive focus on reducing the use of sectioning on racial grounds, is allowing seriously mentally ill individuals to remain in communities, when they should be detained for the safety of the public and themselves. 

7. Curb dangerous e-bike and e-scooter riding. Enabling police to always intervene and enforce increased penalties. Dangerous to pedestrians – some are heavy, fast and powerful - but are currently treated like bicycles rather than motorbikes.   

8. Stamp out ghost plates. Using fake or ‘ghost plates' allows serious criminal activity, but there is only a £100 fine for using a non-compliant plate and a £1,000 fine for making and selling them. We will make it a serious criminal offence to manufacture or sell plates that cannot be ANPR read.