HC Deb 23 January 1997 vol 288 cc1066-7
8. Mr. Sweeney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the overall levels of recorded crime for the last three years for which figures are available. [10555]

Mr. Howard

Recorded crime levels in the last 12 months to June 1996, the latest period for which figures are available, were 10 per cent. lower than three years before that. That is a fall of more than half a million offences—the biggest continuous fall over three years since records were first kept in 1857.

Mr. Sweeney

Will my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that the figures that he has given compare favourably with those for any country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development? Will he join me in congratulating the Vale of Glamorgan police, who have achieved a substantial reduction in the rate of recorded crime for the last two years? Will he also accept the plaudits of the people of the Vale of Glamorgan for the contribution made by the additional police whom he has provided? Tougher penalties for criminals have helped to produce that success.

Mr. Howard

In the last two years for which figures are available, the fall in recorded crime in England and Wales was the highest recorded in a survey of 18 OECD countries. Across the country, the police deserve congratulation on that success. I am delighted to be able to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the police in the Vale of Glamorgan on their success.

Mr. Sheerman

The Home Secretary must know that the public are suffering from reporting fatigue. They are fed up of reporting burglaries and car break-ins. Real crime is still rising, and rising fast. Is not it time that he spoke to the great British public, who would tell him that time and again?

Mr. Howard

The odd thing is that when the crime figures were rising, Labour never criticised them. When we introduced the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, the Leader of the Opposition, no less, asked: If it does not cut crime, will he accept that it has failed?"—[Official Report, 11 January 1994; Vol. 235, c. 21.] Since it has been on the statute book, recorded crime has consistently fallen. I hope that the Labour party will now accept that that Bill and our other measures have succeeded in helping to make Britain a safer place.

Mr. Garnier

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the best ways to reduce crime is to introduce closed circuit television'? In the borough of Oadby and Wigston, in my constituency, the predominantly Liberal Democrat council refuses to support an application by schools and the police in Leicestershire for its introduction. Following that application by the police and by Conservative-minded and anti-crime people, £95 million of Government money is to be spent introducing it, to the benefit of the population.

Mr. Howard

I am not at all surprised by what my hon. and learned Friend said. The attitude of that Liberal Democrat-controlled council is typical of Liberal Democrats across the country. The hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) likes to pontificate, but the actions of Liberal Democrats in control of local government show that they do not care in the slightest about taking effective action to deal with crime.

Mr. Straw

Does the Home Secretary recognise that he is no more convincing when he talks about crime figures than he was when he used to talk about unemployment figures? Why does he not own up not to figures for the past 12 months but to those for the past 18 years, during which crime has doubled? The Conservatives have achieved the worst record of any Government since the war. Internationally, they have the worst record of any industrialised country. On serious crime alone, their record since 1979 is 10 times worse than that of the United States. That is a record of abject failure.

Mr. Howard

Unlike the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman), the hon. Gentleman seems to set great store by the figures. I hope that he accepts what the figures show for the past three years. He is not in the best position to talk about sounding convincing. Earlier this week, he gave an interview to The Independent, which was reported by no less a person than Polly Toynbee who said, roughly, that she trusted the hon. Gentleman because she did not believe a word that he was saying.