UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he’ll clamp down on recreational use of laughing gas and make vandals repair the damage they cause “as quickly as possible” under a new package of anti-crime measures.
(Bloomberg) — UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he’ll clamp down on recreational use of laughing gas and make vandals repair the damage they cause “as quickly as possible” under a new package of anti-crime measures.
The aim is for those responsible for offenses such as graffiti to start cleaning up their crimes within 48 hours of receiving an order, the government said on Monday in a statement. The initiative will begin in 10 areas before being rolled out across England and Wales next year.
Sunak said there was a “small minority of people” who broke the “golden rule” of respect for their communities, telling a question and answer session with voters in Essex, east of London: “It’s not OK.”
The premier is trying to re-establish the Tory reputation for being tough on crime, just four days after Labour Leader Keir Starmer laid out his party’s plan to tackle lawbreaking. Sunak’s Conservatives have trailed Labour by a double-digit margin in the polls for months. That’s a deficit the premier — in office for just five months — needs to turn around ahead of a general election he’s expected to call next year, with law and order is seen as a crucial battleground issue.
“We are getting things done,” Sunak said when asked why voters should believe his promises on antisocial behavior. “Yes, the situation is not easy, of course it’s not easy, there are lots of challenges that I am grappling with. But I am working my socks off for all of you and everyone else in this country, and I only promise what I can deliver, and I’ll deliver what I promise.”
The prime minister conceded that after 13 years of his Conservative Party being in government, many victims of crime no longer bother reporting it to the police because they think: “It’s too difficult, what’s the point and no one will do anything about it.”
Victims and affected communities, alongside local police and crime commissioners, will also be asked for input on the type of punishment or consequences offenders should face.
Sunak said the government plans to ban nitrous oxide under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. Young people in the UK have been increasingly using it as a recreational drug and littering streets with spent cannisters. Nitrous oxide, known as laughing gas, is used commercially to make whipped cream and is readily available in shops and online.
Sunak must call the next election by January 2025 at the latest, and Starmer has made cutting crime one of his five core “missions” as he seeks to persuade the electorate that it’s time to switch parties. In a speech Thursday, Starmer vowed to take on big technology companies that profit from the sale of weapons or promote content that helps radicalize young people.
–With assistance from Emily Ashton.
(Updates with comments from Sunak in paragraph three.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.