LABOUR’S soft stance on stop and search could lead to an extra murder a week, the Tories warned last night. They claim the horror scenario could follow if Labour wins the Election. The Tories say it would result from Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott opposing stop and search and compulsory jail for […]
LABOUR’S soft stance on stop and search could lead to an extra murder a week, the Tories warned last night.
They claim the horror scenario could follow if Labour wins the Election.
The Tories say it would result from Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott opposing stop and search and compulsory jail for knife carriers.
Researchers at Conservative HQ said the duos’s opposition would have meant an extra 882 guns and 8,435 more “offensive weapons” such as knives left on Britain’s streets in the past year.
They estimate these would likely have been used to carry out 3,954 assaults, 3,687 thefts and 146 more sexual assaults or rapes.
And they could have been used in some 52 murders in the past year — the equivalent of one a week. The researchers worked out the figures from the number of weapons stop and search has taken off the streets and calculating how often they are used in crime.
They also warned Mr Corbyn’s opposition to compulsory jail terms for repeat knife offenders could have left 4,204 criminals free.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Corbyn’s Labour would put the public at risk. As the party of law and order, we will always back the police to do their jobs.
“The recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers is already underway.”
But Ms Abbott said: “These are more dodgy numbers from a Tory party that cut police and presided over a rise in serious and violent crime.
“Labour has consistently argued we need more police and investment.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will say in a speech in London that he will start renationalising industries and putting workers on Soviet-style boards within the first 100 days of a Labour government.
