Australian National Review – Government to take tougher action against antisocial behaviour and shoplifting

The government is to introduce new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour, shoplifting and nuisance off-road cycling, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced.

“For too long, rising crime in city centres and on the streets has driven people away from our high streets, eroding the fabric of our communities,” said the Home Secretary, who added that the government will introduce a new law against attacks on shop workers.

“Everyone has the right to work without fear,” Cooper said, adding that the measures were the result of campaigning by the Union of Shop, Distributive, and Allied Workers and retailer Co-op.

New laws will also target gangs that involve children in their criminal activities, and will introduce new youth centres “to keep young people away from violence – a Sure Start for teenagers to create hope for the future.”

Cooper said the measures are part of her department’s efforts to halve the number of stabbings over a decade.

Under the new legislation, possessing, making, transporting or selling a wide range of these and other ‘statement’ knives is a criminal offence.

Violence against women and girls

During her speech, the Foreign Secretary called violence against women a “national emergency” and said it was an “ambitious mission for Labour… to halve violence against women and girls in ten years.”

She told the story of Raneem Oudeh, who called the police four times on the night she and her mother, Khaola Saleem, were murdered by Oudeh’s ex-husband in 2018.

“So in the name of Raneem, this Labour government will put domestic abuse specialists in 999 call centres,” the minister said.

Raneem’s Law will also lead to the implementation of new domestic violence protection orders. These orders impose tougher sanctions on perpetrators, including harsher sentences for those who fail to comply with the orders to stay away from their victims.

These measures build on the powers that police already have to ban abusers from contacting victims for up to 28 days. However, these new measures have no maximum duration.

Immigration

The Home Secretary’s wide-ranging powers mean Cooper is also responsible for the UK’s borders and for combating crime and terrorism.

During her speech, Cooper criticised the previous Conservative government for its “gimmicks” amid rising net immigration and “an asylum system in chaos.”

“A serious government sees that net migration has tripled because recruitment abroad has gone up while training has been drastically cut, and says that net migration has to come down because we are training young people right here in the UK,” she said.

Labour has also sought to tackle criminal gangs that smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK. It told conference delegates: “In three months we have established Border Security Command, launched new investment in covert operations, launched high-tech investigations to tackle the gangs, with the right enforcement and returns.”