As a head teacher I was utterly dismayed by the way in which Conservative and Labour politicians used education as a political football. Each new education minister had to make their mark by changing the curriculum, increasing red tape, interfering in the classroom and pretending education could be micro-managed from London. Yet not one of them seemed genuinely prepared to fight for the investment needed to reduce class sizes, provide modern equipment, support good discipline and provide a well-trained teacher workforce. |
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Green Action |
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Justice and CrimeTackling Crime, Defending Liberty |
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Crime – and the fear of crime – wrecks people’s lives. Governments keep talking tough, but everyone knows it isn’t working. It’s time to concentrate on the basics: more police on the beat, more effort to stop prisoners re-offending, more help for victims of crime. |
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10,000 more police on the streets – cut crime and the fear of crime. By getting rid of Labour’s expensive, illiberal and ineffective ID card scheme, we will pay for 10,000 police on top of Labour’s plans. We will also complete existing plans for an extra 20,000 community support officers to back them up. The average police officer today spends more time in the police station than they do on the streets. |
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| We will give the police the technology they need, and simplify the bureaucracy they face, to allow them to spend more time on patrol and less time tied to the desk. We will concentrate more police efforts on tackling drug traffickers and those drug users who resort to crime to feed their habits, rather than criminalising people possessing cannabis only for their own personal use. | |
Make offenders pay back to victims and their communitiesLiberal Democrats will make more non-violent criminals, such as fine defaulters, shoplifters and petty vandals, do tough community work as an alternative to jail. Experience shows that this reduces re-offending, gives them skills for legitimate work, and means that they pay back to the community. Through Community Justice Panels, local people will have more say in the punishment offenders carry out in the community – for example, by making them clean off graffiti or repair damage to victims’ property. |
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Get tough on anti-social behaviourMany towns and cities are becoming no-go areas at the weekend. We will tackle excessive drinking by cracking down on licensees who serve people when clearly drunk or under-age. We will make big late-night venues contribute to the cost of extra late-night policing. Unacceptable noise and offensive behaviour will be tackled through Acceptable Behaviour Contracts agreed between the individual, their family, the police and the local authority. Where individuals do not co-operate we will use Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, plus appropriate measures to tackle underlying causes. |
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Give prisoners skills for work, not crimeWith four out of five prisoners functionally illiterate, and over half of prisoners re-offending, it’s time to make prison work. Prisoners will be subject to a tough working day, with increased resources for education and training a top priority so that they learn the skills to acquire a legitimate job. The effort a prisoner puts into their education and work-related skills will be one of the factors used when considering their release date, as part of our emphasis on tackling the causes of crime. |
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Quality investigations, safe convictions, fighting crime and terror.We will increase police resources to improve the detection and investigation of crime. We will create a co-ordinated UK Border Force to strengthen the country’s borders against terrorism, people-trafficking and drug smuggling. We oppose moves to reduce or remove rights to jury trial, and the routine use of hearsay evidence or revelation of previous convictions. |
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| We opposed Labour’s plans to allow the Home Secretary to order house arrest and other restrictions on personal liberty. A British citizen’s liberty must only be removed through a fair judicial process, not on the command of politicians. Liberal Democrats achieved substantial amendment of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, but it still has serious flaws, and we will repeal it. Effective action against terrorism is vital, and our priority will be to extend the criminal law to enable terrorist suspects to be prosecuted in the mainstream courts. We will admit evidence from communications interception. If control orders are still required they must be granted by a judge, be time-limited and be subject to a high standard of proof. | |
Firm but fair on asylumFor centuries Britain has had a proud record of granting safe refuge to those fleeing persecution. In turn, refugees have enriched the EU to develop common standards so that all EU countries take their fair share of refugees. We will also end asylum-seekers’ dependence on benefits, allowing them to work so they can pay their own way and use their skills to benefit everyone. |
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Strengthen the fight against discriminationWe will introduce a Single Equality Act to outlaw all unfair discrimination, (including on the grounds of race, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability, age or gender identity), thus giving equal protection for all. We will establish hate-crimes investigation units in each police force to co-ordinate information and action against racism, homophobia and other hate crimes. Liberal Democrats led the call for an amendment to the laws on incitement to racial hatred, to criminalise those who use religious words as a pretext for race hate. Our Equality Act will stop same-sex couples in civil partnerships being treated unfairly compared with married couples in pension arrangements. |
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This Government just keeps trying to take away citizens’ basic freedoms – such as the right to jury trial, or to demonstrate peacefully outside parliament. They even wanted the power to lock anyone up at the whim of the Home Secretary. They plan to charge every citizen nearly £100 each to hold a compulsory identity card, despite the fact that other countries have found that they don’t work. It’s all done in the name of cutting crime and tackling terrorism; but it is the terrorists who want to take away freedom and democracy – our government should defend our liberties. |
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The truth is that ID cards did not stop the Spanish train bombs, and even the 9/11 bombers had their papers in order. The US has ruled out ID cards because they don’t work. What stops both terrorists and criminals is good intelligence and effective investigation – and that takes a lot more police. What protects Britain’s borders is not costly ID cards for law-abiding British citizens, but a strong UK Border Force detecting illegal entry and criminal activity. |
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Both the Conservatives and Labour like to talk tough, but have failed to deliver. I want my children to grow up in a safe community, while keeping intact the basic freedoms for which the British people have fought so hard across the centuries. Mark Oaten - Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary |
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I have been been horrified to find that Labour doesn’t seem to understand that in fighting crime and terrorism, the point is to defend Britain’s justice and democracy, not give it away. Tough Liberal policies put more police on the beat and tackle the causes of crime. We won’t surrender Britain’s liberties. Navnit Dholakia - Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader in the Lords and Spokesperson on Home Affairs |
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Tougher action to enforce high environmental standardsThe courts have struggled to enforce the rules in environmental cases that are often highly technical and specialised. We will improve the enforcement of pollution controls through a specialist Environmental Tribunal to deal with enforcing environmental rules. We will also make sure that the level of penalties that polluters have to pay are appropriate to the offence – at present they are often trivial compared to the profits from environmental crime. |