Danger on the streets

Labour's failure to crack down on crime is exposed today by figures which show violence soaring on Britain’s streets.

One victim is assaulted every 30 seconds, with the number of violent offences rocketing by four per cent in the last year.

Attacks where someone was left injured rose to 1.12 million in 2009.

Gordon Brown has led claims that violence has been reduced since his party took power 13 years ago, while the Tories say it has risen.

But despite the damning figures Labour welcomed the Home Office statistics which showed crime overall fell by seven per cent and is lower than when they took power.

Burglary, robbery, drug offences and fraud were all down but there was an increase in sex offences.

Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, said: “Any improvement is obviously welcome, but we still live in a more dangerous country than when Labour came to power.”

Home Secretary Alan Johnson, said: “If we are going to have an honest debate on crime we need Chris Grayling to finally accept what repeated surveys confirm: that crime has fallen and is still falling.”

The clash between the parties comes because the Government uses two separate measuring systems – offences recorded by the police and the British Crime Survey, which interviews 46,000 people.

The measures give different trends, but Labour has long argued the BCS is a more accurate picture and that shows overall violence has fallen since 1997. Daily Express