Labour says party will fight anti-social crimes

Mar 28 2008 by Rhodri Evans, South Wales Echo

LABOUR has launched its campaign for the local government elections by claiming it will fight anti-social behaviour.

The party believes a promise to tackle low-level crime can oust the Liberal Democrats from Bridgend and Cardiff which their rivals won at the last elections.

At the launch of its campaign ahead of the council elections on May 1, Labour accused the Liberal Democrats of “slapstick incompetence”.

It said Labour councils were prepared to shut down shops that persistently sold alcohol to under-18s in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Speaking at the launch in Swansea, Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy said: “It’s our people in Wales living on the estates, living in the Valleys, living in the cities, who suffer from this. And tough action by the local authorities, working with the police, is really what’s necessary.

“We’re going to ram that message home over the next three to four weeks.”

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said clamping down on anti-social behaviour was a matter of social justice.

He said: “We’re fed up with marauding gangs on the street corner. We want kids to have something much better to do.

“We’re trying to produce a win-win situation for people who think life could and should be better.

“What you find is Lib-Dems are good in opposition but not very good in Government,” he added.

But Liberal Democrat local government spokesperson Jenny Randerson today hit back at Labour’s attacks.

“Labour’s stance on crime and anti-social behaviour is a joke,” she said. “This is the party that axed funding for the popular and successful 101 non-emergency number scheme, when it should have been extended to all of Wales. They cut the funding in Whitehall and refused to support it in the Assembly.

“The 101 number continues in Cardiff, because the Welsh Liberal Democrat-led council has put their money where its mouth is and invested in tackling anti-social behaviour. On council tax, Labour-led councils have, on average, posted higher council tax rises than those led by the Welsh Lib Dems. Labour will say anything to try to keep their stranglehold on Welsh councils.

“But people are seeing that there is an alternative... they don’t want to go back to the old ways of Labour’s one-party state.”

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david.williamson@mediawales.co.uk