A Party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party...

It is worth noting that yesterday's crime review issued from the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, and that in the small print there is this statement that it should not be "used in a derogatory manner or in a misleading context". I am sorry, but I cannot help but be derogatory about what Tony Blair has to say. And, I think it is a bit rich coming from him that he is demanding that nobody should report what he says in a misleading context when everything he has ever said to the public has been misleading in context.

For example, "When this Government came to office a decade ago it was on the back of a commitment to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. We have done both". I accept the first sentence. However, I challenge the second. Where is the evidence of this claimed success? I think it would be more accurate to lay claim to talking tough on crime and talking tough on the causes of crime. And, then, yes Prime Minister, you have done both of them.

True, "The system we inherited had been designed for a previous era". However, I take issue with "We have acted to make it work more effectively". Again, there is a shortage of evidence to support this wild claim. "We are introducing neighbouhood policing teams...", yes, the new neighbourhood policing team have a new police station 200 yards from my home. As you can see from the photo there is a closed notice on the door, and it has been that way ever since it was opened officially last year by Charles Clarke.



"...and have given law enforcers new powers to respond to problems such as anti-social behaviour". Personally, I would prefer it if they responded to 999 calls for emergencies when crimes are being committed, as opposed to slapping an ASBO on a cock crowing a six o' clock in the morning, or some woman for groaning about the sexual pleasure she receives from her husband. For example, at another police station, which also has a closed notice on the door, 500 yards from the one in the photo, a man was stabbed on the steps of this police station. And, when a park ranger used the telephone next to the closed door to summons police assistance to apprehend the assailant, the operator was located in Northampton!