As the government welcomes a 14 per cent reduction in street crime, ministers have been accused of "cherry picking" the figures to ensure Tony Blair's commitment to bring the streets under control is met.

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Mark Bradshaw, deputy director-general for British Retail Consortium, told ePolitix.com: "Any reduction in crime is welcome, but many retailers would argue that short-term measures in targeted areas will not reduce crime indefinitely.

"So called 'victimless crime', such as shop theft, is a gateway to more serious offences - around half of all shop theft is by drug abusers. We believe that the government needs to take a more strategic approach to tackling business crime and its impact on local communities.

"The BRC has proved that retail crime reduction partnerships involving CCTV, electronic information sharing and co-operation between the police, business and local authorities are the most effective way to tackle crime in the long-term."

Fourm Response: Crime Concern

Nigel Whiskin, chief executive for Crime Concern told ePolitix.com: "The challenge now is to sustain this progress in setting up action teams to deal with these problems. The next step is to put in place long term measures that will ensure youngsters at risk do not go down this route in the future.

"This is the reason why we are so keen to see Youth Inclusion Programmes (YIPs) and Youth Action Groups set up in the schools and neighbourhoods where street crime is a problem. We know it works, now we need the resources to make it happen."