Crime

Crime and ID Cards

The Liberal Democrats have taken a lead, proposing real action to cut crime. It was a Lib Dem Council (near Watford) that introduced the first new police station in 40 years to help protect its vulnerable citizens. In Timperley we had a massive response to our crime survey last year. Violent crime is rising nationally, anti-social behaviour is still a serious problem, and our prisons are overflowing. Labour has talked tough but have failed to deliver despite 10 years in power. The Tories are in disarray on crime, the last Tory government cut police numbers and let violent crime double.

The Lib Dems will make criminals who cheat or steal pay back to their community. We will work hard to stop pubs and shops selling alcohol to those under age or already drunk and we will implement extra late night police patrols. We want police stations that are open when we need them.

We need more police, freed from the burden of bureaucracy, to take back our town centres, especially after dark. We want to see the police out tacking the real problems, preventing crime before it happens, responding to problems as they happen, and not left bogged down with paperwork, desk duties or being unofficial prison wardens. Instead of spending billions of pounds on compulsory ID cards for innocent, law-abiding citizens, that money should be spent on targeting criminals and tackling crime. Lib Dems believe in restorative justice, where criminals are made to pay the price of their crimes, as it is both tough and fair. We believe we must work harder to address the causes of crime - deprivation, alienation and most of all drug use.

We need a prison system that works. Prisoners should work to pay compensation to their victims, and to cut re-offending. A life sentence should mean life. We are serious about cutting crime. Together, we can make Britain safer for all of us.

• ID Cards

Lib Dems do not support a national ID card, which is likely to cost every taxpayer at least £200. We believe the money would be better spent on more police officers in our communities.

In November 2007 the Government lost the personal details of all 25 million families with children and has put the privacy of every family in Trafford at risk. The dangers of putting so much information about every citizen in the UK into one central database should be clear.  The government are in denial when they argue that the information will be safe and people's privacy will not be threatened, when ID cards are introduced.

In Trafford we have backed calls for the government to abandon plans to make people carry identity cards. Liberal Democrat nationally have published figures showing that 37 million pieces of personal information on UK citizens were lost in 2007, mostly through Government error.

Terror attacks have not stopped in other countries, such as Spain and the US, which have a national ID card. The scheme will be a bureaucratic nightmare. It will not prevent illegal working. It won't help stop crime or terrorism. If the government really wants to make an impact on crime, terrorism and illegal immigration, the money it has earmarked for this scheme would be far better spent on more police and intelligence officers.

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