Antisocial Behaviour

Edward Morello Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Ayoub Khan]

We certainly need extra policing in the west midlands region and the city of Birmingham—I will come to that. In my constituency, ever since Labour brought our city into bankruptcy, the absence of those services has been felt every day. We must work to restore what has been lost.

As I said, our police forces have also been deprived of the resources to tackle the issue. For that, the Government must take their share of the blame. West Midlands police have 540 fewer police officers and 500 fewer police community support officers than in 2010. Accounting for population growth, however, we are 1,200 police officers short of the number projected 20 years ago. Unfortunately, at a time when the need for safer streets is only rising, Labour has left our police force £43 million short every year.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman has proposed a lot of positive solutions, and he rightly raises the issue of police funding. Dorset police is one of the worst funded police forces in the UK, and certainly the worst funded for PCSOs. Dorset police are trying to police 1,000 square miles. Does he agree that, until we address the central Government funding formula and give local forces the funds they need to provide the services that local communities require, we will never have an effective deterrent against antisocial behaviour?

[Ayoub Khan]

I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Member. By way of example, 70% of the police forces up and down this country are operating with numbers equivalent to what they were in 2010. Some areas, such as the west midlands and his constituency, are not getting their fair share. We need to bring those numbers up enough to make a tangible impact. Labour has left the West Midlands police force short by £43 million every year, meaning that we could now lose another 80 officers unless we reverse that trend. Our police forces will be forced to prioritise more serious crime, leaving antisocial behaviour as an afterthought.

Causes of antisocial behaviour that are unique to each area also need rooting out. In Birmingham, one such cause is obvious: supported exempt accommodation. Birmingham houses 33,000 vulnerable people from across the country, with a fifth of the city’s units situated in my constituency. Although we must not stigmatise those who need care—we must offer them a place to rebuild their lives—residents in my constituency have repeatedly raised concerns about antisocial behaviour associated with poorly managed exempt accommodation, including even violence and property damage. When providers fail to properly support and supervise their residents, the problems play out in surrounding streets and leave neighbourhoods to suffer the consequences. The character of our streets is being actively degraded by poorly run exempt accommodation, yet the Government have done nothing to tackle the root cause. Labour councillors can blame the city council all they like, but they did nothing when they were in charge six months ago, because they know it is on the Government to end the crisis. The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 promised us the powers to finally control the numbers of exempt properties in our city, but for over two years this Labour Government have done nothing but delay them, and now they are saying that we will not even get the powers until autumn next year.

We also need the resources to crack down on rogue providers and to support tenants. That is why we had the SEA pilot scheme, a unit that recovered millions in overpaid housing benefit and completed thousands of antisocial behaviour investigations. The scheme made a real, tangible difference, and yet the Government cut off its funding six months ago. Without urgent assistance, supported exempt accommodation will continue to drive antisocial behaviour in our streets. The Government know that, yet they continue to turn a blind eye—it is absurd. Instead of supporting the SEA pilot scheme, I understand that the Government are seeking a public inquiry into supported accommodation, which is likely to cost millions of pounds. It is absurd because everyone knows what the problem is. We do not need a public inquiry to understand the issue; we need the Government to implement the legislation that has already been passed. However, we all know what will happen: they will to use the inquiry as an excuse to delay when they already know what the solution is.

With colleagues, I will launch today a petition for the residents of Birmingham demanding that this Government implement the legislation rather than leaving it on a shelf to gather dust. I hope the Minister might be able to tell us today that that petition will not be necessary.