Southport Attack
Jas Athwal Excerpts(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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Dan Jarvis
I thank my hon. Friend for raising this matter. Sir David Amess is a much-missed colleague, and his family continue to be in our thoughts. The Home Secretary met Lady Amess recently, and we are very grateful to the family for the important representations that they have made. Next week, as I have said, we will publish the Prevent learning review of the appalling attack on Sir David. We will never forget him.
Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)
None of us would wish to pre-empt the public inquiry before it has even started, but based on what the Minister has told us, it seems inevitable that we will face the issue of different state agencies failing to speak to each other about an individual who is coming up on their systems. If they had spoken to each other, they might have realised the serious danger that the Southport attacker posed. My constituent Zara Aleena would have been alive today if agencies had talked to each other two years ago. Will the Minister ensure that inter-agency communication is at the heart of any lessons learnt from this inquiry?
Dan Jarvis
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for asking his question in the way that he has, and I am dreadfully sad about what happened to his constituent. He makes a very important point about inter-agency co-operation and working. That is one of the things that we will look very carefully at, and it is certainly one of the things that the public inquiry will focus on. We have to ensure that there is a joined-up response at local, regional and national levels, and we will do so.
With your indulgence, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will clarify one point that I made to the shadow Home Secretary earlier. He made some good points about transparency, and I want to be clear with him that it is the Law Commission that will review the contempt of court rules.
Police Grant Report
Jas Athwal Excerpts(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for her speech and for the money that we are going to see. I also associate myself with some of the remarks made by the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) about community policing and neighbourhood policing being decimated over the last 14 years. With that decimation comes insurance, including motor vehicle insurance, rising through the roof, shoplifters marauding our streets without fear and low-level crime going out of control.
The last time Labour was in government, we were tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. Following 14 years of the Conservatives’ mismanagement, crime and policing have fallen into crisis. Crime has increased, and despite what has been said in this place, police numbers have declined. Prisons have crumbled and victims have been denied justice.
Locally, the borough I led was home to five police stations in 2014. Following a decade of Conservative cuts, only a single police station remained standing. Everyone deserves to feel safe—safe from burglary in our homes, safe from assault on our streets and safe from violence in our daily lives. In Ilford South, we have all felt the consequences of rising crime. Knife crime, in particular, has plagued our streets, claiming the lives of so many young people just starting out—people with their whole futures ahead of them, who are caught up in gangs or victimised. We have seen high-profile cases of domestic abuse where women are murdered and families shattered. Only recently, Jorge Ortega lost his life while working at Ilford train station. He was a victim of violent assault, which deprived his family of a beloved father, grandfather and husband.
It is vital that the police are adequately resourced to act as both deterrent and enforcer. Without fair police funding, we ultimately accept the decriminalisation of low-level crime and the exponential increase of serious crime. We all know that crime can destroy communities, devastate families and degrade the bonds of our society. After 14 years of Conservative cuts to policing, closing police stations and empowering criminals, it is beyond time for a change. I welcome the Home Secretary’s funding report, which addresses the significant issues of police funding cuts and acknowledges the vital importance of having officers back on our streets.
The announcement of a 6.6% cash increase in police funding will mean more uniformed officers patrolling our streets, protecting our communities and responding when we need them most. The funding for the Metropolitan police will support policing across the capital, ultimately making our streets safer. Labour is bringing back community policing, increasing police numbers and beginning the hard work of restoring public trust.
Funding is one part of the solution. To deliver safer streets and improve community confidence, we need a holistic approach, focusing on prevention as well as cure. We need spaces for young people to go to socialise and to be inspired. In Ilford South, I have had the great pleasure of working with Stephen Addison of Box Up Crime—a local organisation that runs boxing clubs, offering young people an escape, an education and a safe space away from crime, antisocial behaviour and gang violence. As council leader, I led investment in youth centres in Loxford, a leisure centre in Goodmayes and libraries across Redbridge, giving young people places to exercise, learn and make friends.
We also brought back community policing locally, as the Labour Government will now do nationally. We delivered enforcement and engagement hubs—bases for police and council enforcement officers to engage with the public and conduct patrols, as an affordable replacement for the police stations that the Conservative Government defunded. The latest one opened last week. I was honoured to invite my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, when she was the shadow Home Secretary, to launch our very first enforcement hub. I am now delighted to support her in government to deliver community policing across the country.
Today’s report on police grants gives us the opportunity and resources to prevent crime, improve community safety and build confidence in the police. Under this Labour Government, the public can rest assured that, once again, we will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, delivering community policing, fair funding and the innovation needed to prevent crime before it happens.
Violence against Women and Girls
Jas Athwal Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)
It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I thank the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for securing this important debate.
In my constituency, we know all too well the terrible consequences of the misogyny and rape culture that enables the perpetuation of violence against women and girls. In 2022, our neighbour Zara was walking home from Ilford town centre when she was brutally murdered, just minutes from her front door. Zara was much loved by her friends, her family and the community as a whole. She had a bright future ahead of her, which was so callously stolen from her. Nothing will ease the pain and suffering of all those who loved Zara but, in her memory, her family have fought relentlessly to prevent further violence against women and girls. No one should have to endure what Zara endured.
The stark reality, as has been mentioned, is that one woman is murdered every three days in the UK. Every single day, women and girls are suffering from a systemic rape culture that normalises, overlooks and excuses sexual violence and the abuse of women. Violence against women and girls is a national emergency. We know that violence does not exist in a vacuum. Society tolerates harassment, leering, casual misogyny and sexist jokes, which creates an environment that fosters the hatred of women, normalises abuse and ultimately leads to violence.
Jordan McSweeney, who murdered Zara Aleena, had accrued 28 convictions for 69 separate offences, dating back 17 years. Despite his history of violence, he was categorised as medium risk and allowed to roam the streets seeking another victim. McSweeney’s categorisation as medium risk is a stark reminder of the grave consequences of underplaying this serious crime. Will the Minister please agree that violence against women and girls is a national emergency, and that we must tackle the misogyny and rape culture that leads to abuse?