Tories trot out tough on crime but not smart about dealing with it

Dear All

The Tories have stumbled on the obvious that the poor are being let down.

They have gone for the old classic, Problem, Reaction Solution scenario.

Problem = crime, Reaction = blame the government, Soution= crack down on criminals.

In other words wield the big stick to manage the underclass.

Not exactly original thinking by any means since it is the old Tory mantra of law and order.

So; the Tories is traditional fingering pointing mode have singled out the cause, the UK Government is failing the poorest communities in England.

To a certain extent that is true but the failure of Government goes beyond crime, it reaches into education, housing, economic opportunities even into law that allows people to be discriminated against because of passed faults.

In Britain, a glass ceiling exists caused by bring forward legislation which effectively shuts part of society out of social and employment opportunities.

This has effectively created an underclass with no stake in society and no means to escape their situation.

When people have no stake in society then they abandon the morals and social codes of society.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said Labour had "let down" the poor and could no longer claim to be "the party of progressive politics".

For progressive politics read socialism but then Tories could hardly be called socialist could they?

So, how do the Tories solve the problem of crime and the underclass?

Simple; they have to invest in people from the bottom up, rather like building a house with solid foundations.

They have to break the cycle of crime that some people are trapped in, redraft certain laws and ensure that quangos like the EHRC take more of an interest in defending their rights to secure employment and or opportunities for them.

In other words, these people need a fresh start.

Such thinking maybe too much for the Tories to stomach!

In pure monetary terms, it costs £30,000 a year to keep a person locked up, add to that they produce nothing, pay no tax and in most cases will return to prison within a short space of time after committing more crime.

It is commonsense to invest.

The problem is that crime is a ping pong ball between political parties, Tory and Labour, each trying to be seen as “tough on crime”.

If the Tories drop out playing that game, it exposes Labour’s approach for what it is using crime as a tool to convince the rest of society that the underclass need to be managed and controlled by really that is for political gain.

If the Tories want to make head way they can’t repeat their mistakes of the past and Labour’s current ones.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University