Labour attacks opponents for being soft on crime
By Ian Dunt
Senior Labour figures condemned the Conservatives today for opposing crime tackling measures on civil liberties grounds.
Home secretary Alan Johnson was particularly scathing about Tory and Lib Dem objections to DNA retention and CCTV.
Labour recruited Katie Piper, the model who was attacked with acid in Golders Green, London.
“I believe CCTV is an essential tool in today’s day and age in ensuring the safety of the public,” she told a Labour press conference today.
“If you don’t have anything to hide, you don’t have anything to fear. Without CCTV my attackers could have walked free.”
Ms Piper, who was forced to undergo facial reconstruction in the wake of the attack, said the perpetrators would not have been caught if it were not for the cameras. Both the attackers were sentenced to life in jail.
Her appearance comes a day after Brooke Kinsella, the actress whose brother was killed in teen violence, came out to support the Tories.
At a separate event this afternoon, Gordon Brown insisted Labour would continue to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.
