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Tories focus on crime and drugs
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| Davis: Unveiled action plan on crime |
The Conservatives have aimed to keep the election heat on Labour's record on crime.
Shadow home secretary David Davis joined family spokeswoman Theresa May for a morning media conference on Friday where the the focus was on violent crime and drug rehabilitation.
Davis set out an "action plan" on dealing with violent offences in contrast to what he labelled Tony Blair's "talk".
He said the number of police officers leaving the service has doubled under Labour, saying the home secretary had acknowledged this was an indicator of police "morale".
He also argued that the government has hampered police work with excessive red tape.
The Tories have pledged to free up officers' time by scrapping a form they claim has to be filled in every time a suspect is stopped, taking up an average of seven minutes on each occasion.
They also want to introduce more police, more prison places and an end to early release from jail.
"All of these measures are tough, but I don’t want to just talk tough," Davis said.
"I will be tough. I won't forget about the victims of crime as soon as the headlines go away and the dust has settled.
"Instead of pursuing headlines, I will relentlessly pursue those members of society who make peoples lives a misery.
"A million violent crimes a year is a million too many."
The move came after Labour came under fire yesterday over the latest crime statistics, which showed a further nine per cent increase in violent offences.
Drugs
Meanwhile May focussed on drugs policy, promising a 10-fold increase in residential rehabilitation places.
Conservatives believe tackling this problem would have the biggest single effect on reducing re-offending.
"All the evidence shows that residential rehab is the most effective means of treating addicts," she said.
"But in Britain today there are fewer than 2,500 residential rehab places available.
"A Conservative government will expand this massively, providing 25,000 residential places for hard drug users where they can spend six-months getting intensive treatment to get them off drugs.
"That's enough to help 50,000 addicts a year. It will allow us, over the course of a year, to treat every young teenage drug addict in Britain."
She also said a "coherent, consistent and committed anti-drugs" message should be taken to children, pointing to US successes in reducing substance abuse.
"Some people say drugs are a matter of personal freedom. I disagree," she said.
"It's time we stopped blurring the distinction between right and wrong.
"We need to send a clear message: 'Drugs are wrong'."
The Tories are also promising to reverse Labour's downgrading of the classification of cannabis and allow drug testing in schools.
The joint appearance of two senior shadow Cabinet members also took the spotlight off leader Michael Howard for one day.
The Tory chief has been accused of dominating the Conservative campaign with a presidential style.
However he will face a keynote TV interview at the hands of the BBC's Jeremy Paxman tonight.
Paxman famously asked Howard 14 times whether he overruled the then head of the Prison Service while he was home secretary.
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