Crime and Policing Bill
Deirdre Costigan ExcerptsMonday 10th March 2025
(1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Crime and Policing Bill 2024-26 View all Crime and Policing Bill 2024-26 Debates Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)
The legacy of the Conservative Government’s 14 years in power is one of failure to keep us safe, and it is felt every day in my constituency of Ealing Southall. On Guru Nanak Road, King Street and Western Road in Southall, drug dealing is a common sight and makes the area feel unsafe for everyone. The police do not have enough resources, so the Singh Sabha gurdwara has had to employ its own patrols, at a cost of thousands of pounds, to keep its worshippers safe.
Hanwell clock tower has become a magnet for street drinkers. The police try to move them on, but they just do not have the powers under the weak laws left by the Conservatives. In west Ealing, drug dealers openly ply their trade, even sitting in residents’ front porches when they are out, while the police cannot do much about it. Across London, it is not safe to take a phone call on the street, as people are liable to have their phone snatched. On top of that, fly-tipping increased by one third under the previous Government, making local neighbourhoods feel neglected and unloved—of course the drug dealers, phone thieves and street drinkers moved in.
Under the last Labour Government, there were six police and community support officers for every single ward in Ealing Southall, but the Conservatives cut £1 billion from policing in London, so we are lucky to have a couple of local officers per ward. They are not dedicated to the area, like they used to be—they get pulled to Brent, Harrow or central London. Under the previous Labour Government, the police also had stronger powers; the Conservatives actually reduced police powers. Labour has already started the work to bring back neighbourhood policing and to recruit 13,000 new officers, with £320 million of extra funding for police in London. We will ensure that police officers get back out on the streets, instead of doing admin work like they were doing under the previous Government.
This Bill will give those new officers the tough powers they need to tackle antisocial behaviour and crime, with 50 new laws to make our streets safer. Our new respect orders will mean that the police can stop street drinkers from congregating at Hanwell clock tower and stop drug dealers from coming into west Ealing and Southall. If people break respect orders, the police will now be able to arrest them immediately and take them to court, where they can face up to two years in prison. The police will be able to drug test more people on arrest, and respect orders will require that drinkers and drug users access rehab services to break the cycle of dependency.
The Bill will also give police the power to search a property without a warrant where they have evidence that there is a stolen electronic device inside. I had my own phone stolen a while back; I could see on the internet that it was in east London, but the police could not do anything about it. This law will now mean that police can use “find my phone” apps to go after phone thieves and get stolen property back.
I am delighted that as part of this Bill, the Secretary of State will issue statutory guidance to local councils to help to ensure a more consistent approach to fly-tipping. Ealing Council is the No. 1 borough in the country when it comes to issuing fixed-penalty notices against fly-tippers, but it needs help to do more. Under the Conservatives, fly-tipping was allowed to spiral and was seen as a low-level crime, but it blights communities. I know that this Labour Government are looking at further steps we can take to punish fly-tippers and to reduce waste in the first place.
After 14 years of the Conservatives leaving local people in Ealing Southall to put up with open drug taking, street drinking and snatch thefts, Labour is giving the police back the power and the resources to take the tough action needed to make our streets safe again.
Oral Answers to Questions
Deirdre Costigan Excerpts(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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Yvette Cooper
As the Front-Bench spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats knows, that is not our plan, and we are clear that net migration needs to come down. It quadrupled under the previous Conservative Government in the space of just four years, and that number needs to come down. We believe we should support young people across this country, including through youth prevention partnerships.
Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)
The Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention (Dame Diana Johnson)
I am very sorry to hear about the incident to which my hon. Friend refers. She will know that we have a commitment to halve knife crime over the next decade. We have already introduced the ban on zombie knives and machetes, and we are moving forward with the ban on ninja swords. Last week, the Home Secretary announced the new measures under Ronan’s law to tighten the lethal loopholes in the online sale of knives, and we are developing the Young Futures programme, with prevention partnerships at their heart, to stop young people getting involved in knife crime.
Oral Answers to Questions
Deirdre Costigan Excerpts(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Jess Phillips
I pay tribute to Jasmine House. As someone who applied for funding for a similar centre, I understand exactly the funding pressures that its staff will face. What the sector really needs is stability, the assurance of more than single-year funding, which the Government are looking at, and making sure that we mitigate to ensure that there is enough.
Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Yvette Cooper)
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It marks the start of 16 days of global activism on the issue. As part of the Labour Government’s safer streets mission, we have set an ambition to halve violence against women and girls, which I hope everyone will be a part of.
Today we are setting out new action to tackle the devastating crime of spiking, with a new stand-alone criminal offence to strengthen the police response, new specialist training for bar and door staff across the country, and new recording measures, because we fear that the prevalence is much higher than has been previously thought, and the dangerous criminals responsible need to be caught and stopped. As we look forward to the festive season, everyone should be able to enjoy a night out without having to worry about the safety of their drink and whether they will be able to get home safely.
Deirdre Costigan
I met constituents at my coffee morning in Southall Green on Friday, who raised the constant issue of open drug dealing and antisocial behaviour in the town centre. Will the Secretary of State work with the Mayor of London to ensure that we have more police on the streets of Southall and London as soon as we can?
Yvette Cooper
My hon. Friend makes an important point. We have already given the Met an additional £37 million this year, on top of what it was previously allocated. We also need to ensure that here and right across the country we have neighbourhood police back in town centres, because that is how to tackle not just local drug dealing, but antisocial behaviour and other crimes that blight communities.
Oral Answers to Questions
Deirdre Costigan Excerpts(5 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)
Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Yvette Cooper)
Neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of the British policing model, yet in many areas of the country it has been decimated in recent years. This Government are committed to rebuilding neighbourhood policing by putting officers, police community support officers and special constables back in our communities with new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour and local crime.
Yvette Cooper
My hon. Friend makes an important point. Drug dealing, drug misuse and other forms of antisocial behaviour and crime are a real challenge in many communities. First, we need to get neighbourhood police back on the beat to address these challenges. Secondly, neighbourhood police need greater powers, and we will introduce respect orders that allow the police to take action against repeat offenders and to make sure that our streets and communities can be kept safe.
Deirdre Costigan
In Ealing Southall, religious organisations are spending their own money protecting worshippers from antisocial behaviour and crime in the early morning. Sri Guru Singh Sabha gurdwara, for example, is spending £3,000 to £4,000 a week on patrols and security measures. I recently called a crime summit and, although the police are trying their best, the community needs more police on the streets and a return to neighbourhood policing. What progress has been made on recruiting the much-needed 13,000 new police and community support officers we need to restore trust in the safety of our communities and town centres?
