Simon Lightwood MP: Labour is the party of law and order

Simon Lightwood MP writes: Every week I am contacted by people across Wakefield, Horbury and Ossett who are worried. Parents worried about their children being targeted when playing in the park. Pensioners worried about scams or being robbed in the street. Small businesses worried they will be targeted by thieves or vandals.

And whilst this is happening, the Conservatives are missing in action in the fight against crime and antisocial behaviour. Our communities in Wakefield feel under threat, while police have disappeared from our streets, with thousands of neighbourhood police cut.

The last Labour government introduced neighbourhood policing and cut crime by a third. But neighbourhood policing has been decimated by 13 years of Conservative government, with 6,000 fewer neighbourhood officers on the streets since 2015 and the number of PCSOs halving since 2010. In Yorkshire, we’ve lost 39 per cent of our PCSOs in this time.

That’s why when things do go wrong, too often no one comes, nothing is done, and there are no consequences for lawbreakers. People have lost faith that reporting crimes will lead to any action, let alone an arrest. Despite the valiant work of hardworking police officers in Wakefield, the government is letting the country down when it comes to policing.

In a recent poll by More In Common, nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they do not report crime. When asked why, nearly half said they don’t have faith in the police, nearly a third said it did not seem worth the hassle. That's why I'm launching my local campaign – “See it, Hear it, Report it!” to encourage residents to report crime and antisocial behaviour when they see it.

The truth is that if we don't report crimes and antisocial behaviour, the official statistics will show crime and antisocial behaviour going down in our communities (even though we know that this is far from the truth), but the consequences will then be even less police for our area.

As part of my campaign, I will be holding a range of drop-in events in every corner of my constituency with the police and Wakefield Council, to encourage people to come forward and report antisocial behaviour issues and crimes.

Labour is the party of law and order. The next Labour government will prevent crime, punish criminals, and protect communities. We will prevent crime by putting 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and PCSOs on our streets and we will punish anti-social behaviour offenders with tougher sentences. We will also protect communities with more police, more action to stop young people being drawn into crime, more prosecutions, and by standing up for victims. Labour will protect you and your family.

There’s a range of resources on my campaign website at https://www.simonlightwood.org.uk/report where you can find the most appropriate place to report antisocial behaviour, share your own experiences of antisocial behaviour with me and keep up to date on my campaign work.