PRIME-minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown today promised to make Britain safer at a conference of top police officers in Manchester.
In a wide ranging speech delivered at the annual conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers being held at the Midland Hotel, the Chancellor also promised a review of how police tackle drug dealers - with education about the perils of drugs starting in primary school.
He also announced new money to ease prison overcrowding and added he wanted tougher sentences for thugs who commit crimes on public transport.
Mr Brown began his speech by praising the heroism of police officers who risked their lives in the line of duty.
“There’s no greater responsibility than that you as police officers accept and there’s no greater responsibility for us in parliament to support you in your duty,” said the Chancellor, who promised to back police.
He touched on the fears of people travelling on public transport and said he wanted to make it an aggravating feature which could be considered by the courts when sentencing thugs for attacks on busses, trams and trains.
Mr Brown announced the Treasury would be providing additional money to fund extra prison places including new “fast build units“ this year.
Gangs
He promised a review of how police tackled drug dealing, and said he wanted to “name and shame dealers and push out the gangs”.
He added he believed education about the perils of drugs should start much earlier at primary school age.
“We want to help persuade young people that drugs are the problem and not the answer,” he said.
The Chancellor said he wanted to ensure teachers had the resources and power they needed - for instance to confiscate weapons - and added he wanted to tackle bullying both inside and outside the school gates.
He added: “I’m convinced we need to intervene earlier when children show the first signs of behavioural problems. We need to challenge absent fathers to play their part.”
Mr Brown concluded: “I give you this promise, to listen to you. I want to work in partnership with you and I want us together to make our nation stronger and safer.”
Comments
Login or Register to comment
I would like to say I will belive it when I see it but I know I will never see it - it is not as easy as flicking a switch. The Police are doing all they can at the moment so they cannot do any more?! The only solution is to opt out of the human rights charter and to actually deal with criminals rather than letting them off every time!
Tough on crime - tough on the causes of crime. Yada yada. Hard to take seriously a man who's party got elected by spending money they got for selling titles. I think we can ignore Brown anyway - he wont be in the job beyond the next election - hopefully.
Make Britain safer.....
By releasing criminals early?????
Even Labour can't spin that one.
This from a guy who has got the PM'S Job by deafult, he is not the people choice, nor has anyone voted him as PM, I am labour through and through, but not any longer. Brown will take them dowm, Blair should have stayed until the end of his term and cleared the mess he has left. Iraq, Crime, No respect, yes some good things, most of all the Smoking Ban! But Brown is a wannabe. Come on labour get another Blair, before its to late.
I really hope we have not got another Scot dominating how we English live.I am fed up with Blair (another scot).making rules and regulations which no other country would put up with.Stop making promises that you cannot keep Gordon,you have proved in the past you cannot keep your word.
Perhaps we ought to (allowed to) be more vocal about not wanting foreigners running our country. The scots are pretty clear about the English. Why do we put up with it? Come on England - waken up!
good start by letting criminals be releashed from prison early, would have preferred a tax rebate for all the good law abiding citizens, little incentive for those of us who keep on the right side of the law.
if this government was a private business it would have gone bust years ago..
if they want to make britain safer, they should make dramatic cuts on legal aid. If people want to go around hurting or killing people then their should be no sympathy when they are roughed up and thrown in a cell. If people can't afford a lawyer then they shouldn't go round needing them.
Brown sold 300 tonnes of British gold reserves when the price per ounce for gold was at a 20 year low ($275 per ounce). He then invested almost a third of the money generated in Euros, the euro value swiftly dropped. Overall, this meant we as a country lost £2 billion. He was warned against taking both actions, how can we trust a word this man says when he will not even listen to the advice of the head of the Bank of England?
It is a sad state of affairs.
two billion is nothing compared to how much the nation has paid for their mismanagement of the benefits system. I know for a fact that they paid 490 million out in errors in housing benefit alone last year. Wake up England!
YES brown will make the country safer? he will let all the worlds terrorists live here ..this government and his ilk have ruined a once great country who led the world ,now we grovel to europe for our daily bread...
who the hell are you calling a foreigner ? god how stupid are you lot you go on about tony blair being scottish yea so how come everyone voted for him in 3 past general elections? saying that i could be wrong this is manchester were talking about it probibly didant evan dawn on you halfwits he was scottish untill someone pointed it out lol
Yes Ace,wasn't Britain great under the tories...unseen levels of unemployment,whilst the rich had never had it so good(which labour has failed to address),communities wiped out,supporters of apartheid in South Africa,the attempt to bring in the poll tax,old people dying of hyperthermia every winter in huge numbers,because they had to wait until after the cold spell to get their winter fuel payments,public services starved of money,the rise of the yuppie.Yeah great stuff...not all Britain's problems are due to labour (who have made Britain a little better..but not enough)..and Europe..you should broaden your analysis a bit mate..or are they just prejudices,and not reasoned thoughts?
Ace, you are spot on.
This lot have ruined our country, people are afraid to go into city centres at weekends because of the louts that take over the streets. & Labour tell us they have crime under control!
What a load of ****
Our very way of life and our culture is being taken from us year by year.
Now we have another plonker about to ruin whats left of our once great nation.
Come on England, look around you.Is this the country your Fathers & Mothers fought to leave to the future generations, I think not.
How does Brown get to be PM & ruin, sorry, run the country, I dont remember giving him my vote, do you ?
Might I make a suggestion that he may model himself on Admiral Lord Nelson "I see no Criminals"
if he wanted to make britain safer he should have built more prisons YEARS AGO, he has held the country's purse strings for far too long and was advised to build more prisons but refused to listen.
he and phony have presided over a justice system which is in complete meltdown with fatty falconer (another chum of blithering bliar) at the helm.
john reid's statement about letting thugs and robbing scum back on the streets is just the latest spin story from bliars bunker, just to see what the public reaction would be, knowing full well that brown was going to make this speech.
DEMOCRACY - YOUR'E HAVIN A LAUGH
Prison does actually work and it's cheaper than having these people on the outside being chased by five police cars and a helicopter, all the stolen property, insurance bills, lights left on, NHS etc. In fact I'm sure every prison place pays for itself in a matter of days.
Brown has the credentials to be a great Prime Minister. He is more of a Labour leader than Blair ever was and his first impressions appear to be as a straight talking leader. However I must express concern over his rather draconian views on detention of terrorists and tough talk on crime etc. It appears that the only liberal alternative is the hopeless Lib Dems. Just have a thought for civil liberties Gordon, as a Labour leader it is the least you should do.
the uneducated masses believed Blair, they'll probably believe Brown too. Lemmings falling into the sea.
Once again Britain is the sick man of Europe
to opt out of Human Rights charter (handy now that Blairs going and his human rights lawyer wife isnt around), we need to opt out of the EU too (which aint gonna happen).
Its time the BNP got some seats in Manchester and the country woke up
I agree, this lot have let that many people in, we do not know whre they are from or their backgrounds. Schools are full, doctors are full, prisons are full, the nhs is on it's backside. We just cannot cope with the infulx of people but it is to late now it will never stop, i fear for our childrens future this country will never be the same again, and that is not a good thing........
...and how do you propose to do that Mr Brown ? - THE PRISONS ARE FULL !!! More police on the streets, more prisons to be built, longer sentences as a deterrant and less time spent on stupid laws like smoking bans. Time to get your priorities right !
Ease the overcrowding crisis?...OK well why put virtually anyone and everyone whos commited offence in there, your taking up far too much cells that way.
Some offences could be dealt by the rehabilitation process as i have stressed enough in the past!
Just putting people in prison makes it so much easy for this LAZY country who dont think long term!
I don't understand why an expat living in Sweden should call for the BNP to take power in Manchester.
Surely such a party would only create tensions in a diverse, multi-racial city such as Manchester.
The political murders in Sweden -- of the Social Democrat leader, Olof Palme, and the politiican Anna Lindh -- indicate clearly that society benefits from diversity, not a reactionary state fearful of different cultures.
Labour may not be the best option, but the BNP would bring many more problems with them than benefits. Is that what you really want?
Mr Manchester '... the BNP would bring many more problems with them than benefits'. Is that a fact or just your opinion?