Labour and Tory MPs reject Liberal Democrat plan to cut crime

9.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 8th Feb 2007

We can cut crime campaign

A Liberal Democrat plan to cut crime was voted down by 293 votes to 57 in the House of Commons last night. Labour MPs voted against, and Conservative MPs abstained on, a Lib Dem motion proposing a new direction in government policy to deal with the crisis in the criminal justice system. The motion proposed reforming prisons to make education and training compulsory, and triple the number of prisoners doing paid work, with contributions from earnings going towards a victim compensation fund. More use of restorative justice, an expansion of secure mental health facilities and providing more police officers (paid for with the money saved by scrapping ID card) were also proposed.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson said "Our proposals to cut crime are principled and practical: making prison work to cut repeat crime; giving victims fair compensation; using money for more police, not ID cards; honesty and transparency in sentencing. It is extraordinary that after ten years of tough talk and institutional incompetence the Labour government cannot even bring itself to vote for these sensible measures. The Conservatives are in a complete spin on crime and don't know what they think - no wonder all they could do is abstain is when asked to make a decision."