Policy

Crime went up here in Camden and in east Brent last year, with street robberies shooting up by 25%. There is a particular hotspot around Swiss Cottage and the length of the Finchley Road.

Local activist and Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Chris Philp has proposed an action plan to combat these problems. This plan includes:

• More Police on the streets: Only about 80 of Camden's 850 Police are on the streets at a given point in time. Many are tied up with bureaucracy and paperwork created by the Government. These officers should be on the street catching criminals, not catching up with paperwork
• Better CCTV coverage: Finchley Road and West End Lane only have one crime-detecting CCTV camera - yet the Borough has a staggering 68 camera to catch motorists. The cameras should be trained on the real criminals, who otherwise go undetected.
• More prison places: Dangerous criminals are released early because the Government have not build enough prison places and most go on to re-offend. We need more places to allow proper rehabilitation and to avoid early releases.
• More discipline in schools: Many offenders are young, so better discipline in schools will help stop the problem at source

Chris Philp added, "Youth disorder is also a particular problem. We need to fix the broken society which has led to this - including reforming and improving the education system and supporting and encouraging families."

10 Years of Blair-Brown Government
is too long

Over the last 10 years, the Blair-Brown Government has presided over vast increases in taxation - incomes after tax actually went down last year - and have largely wasted the proceeds. Spending on education and health has gone up - which is a good thing. But where are the results to show for it? Almost half of children leaving primary school can't read and write to the Government's own standard, and the NHS is still not delivering in the way we expect given all the extra money. The war in Iraq has been botched and terrorist threats at home have not been faced down. It's time that Blair-Brown Government answered for its 10 year track record.