Hollow victory for Labour as crime rates fall
By politics.co.uk staff
Labour officials were jubilant at a reported drop in crime during the party’s time in office today.
The official figures, released by the British Crime Survey, also revealed that fears of a recession-driven crime wave have proved unfounded.
Offending is at its lowest level since 1981. Offences fell by nine per cent in 2009/10, from 10.5 million to 9.6 million.
It is the first drop below the ten million mark since records started to be collected. Acquisitive crime that analysts would expect to soar during a recession – crimes such as burglary, theft and fraud – actually fell.
The coalition government is expected to react quietly to the figures, given they relate to a period before it came to power and seem to suggest that Labour was successfully presiding over a marked decrease in criminal offences.
Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson said: “These figures again demonstrate how impressively the police and other agencies tackled crime under the Labour government.
“But rather than congratulating everyone who has worked so hard to make our country safer, we now have the bizarre spectacle of Tory ministers trashing the official figures which show undeniably that crime has fallen.”
