The first duty of any Government is to keep people safe, which is why I am pleased that Boris Johnson’s new Government has hit the ground running by announcing the recruitment of an extra 20,000 police officers. As the Home Secretary has said, it is time to reverse the balance of fear. The criminals should be the ones afraid – not the public.
The Prime Minister has said that he wants the police to have all the legal backing they need to do their job – starting with stop and search.
This week, the Government has announced it is extending an existing pilot so that 8,000 more officers can decide to deploy stop-and-search across an area without a senior officer needing to give the go-ahead.
Police officers and the public should be confident that the entire criminal justice system is on their side, which is why the Prime Minister has ordered an urgent review into the prison sentences of violent and sexual offenders.
The review – beginning immediately – will focus on violent and sexual offenders, assessing if their sentences truly reflect the severity of their crimes.
In particular, it will assess whether the law needs to change so that the most dangerous criminals cannot be let out before they have served their full sentence.
The review will also examine how education can play a bigger role in breaking the cycle of repeat offending.
These measures will help the Government to keep our communities safe and take dangerous people off the streets.
To help deliver on this commitment, the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, has agreed to use up to £2.5 billion to create another 10,000 spaces in our prisons.
The Government needs to focus on all root causes of crime, but that effort is hopeless unless it is also tough on crime itself.
As a Member of Parliament, I want to ensure that my constituents are safe. This means keeping dangerous criminals off our streets and properly punishing them for their crimes. To that end, I strongly support this Government’s fresh approach to enforcing law and order.