Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed Labour’s national Safer Communities plan today, 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.
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.
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“The government’s priorities are completely backward. Instead of spending hundreds of millions of pounds on vanity projects, Labour would invest that money into tackling issues that matter to communities in Portsmouth and across the country.
“Our city has had historic problems in tackling anti-social behaviour and related issues, only made worse with one of the mostly poorly funded local police services in the country, but this plan would get Portsmouth back on track and has my full support.”
Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, also said:
“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.”
In April, Mr Morgan joined up with ‘Operation Nautical’, a dedicated policing response to keep communities safe along Southsea seafront and neighbouring areas in Portsmouth this summer.
The Portsmouth representative also regularly joins the Police on local patrols and has lobbied Government for fairer Police funding for Portsmouth through a range of written parliamentary questions and letters to the Minister, and meets regularly to discuss concerns with the district commander. In May, the Portsmouth MP launched a petition to call on Government to get more bobbies on the beat in the city.
