Matthew Patrick
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Matthew Patrick (Wirral West) (Lab)
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for securing this debate. She did so because she knows, as we all do, that antisocial behaviour is not just low-level and unfair; it can devastate communities. Also, people worry that nothing can be done about it, which leaves them suffering, sometimes in silence. Like an iceberg, from afar it can appear that antisocial behaviour is not that large in scale, but when we get closer to it, we realise that it is so much bigger and deeper than it first appears.
In my constituency of Wirral West, I launched an antisocial behaviour survey last week; the results are shocking. It is clear that antisocial behaviour is a gateway drug to criminality, and that if we do not get a grip of it now, it will only spiral. To get a grip of it, we need to do two things.
First, it will not surprise Members to hear that there is a correlation between the lack of investment in an area, including fewer things for kids to do, and a rise in this unwanted antisocial behaviour. So, we need more investment. Secondly, we saw the Tories hollow out our police force and our community support officers. I work with those officers on the Wirral. We have brilliant and dedicated officers, who are being asked to do more and more with less and less. It leads them to be reactive in their work and it also leads communities to feel like they have to accept this antisocial behaviour. So, we need proactive work—plans to stop antisocial behaviour in its tracks, more police officers, and more neighbourhood support officers.
In Wirral West, I will work with anyone and everyone to tackle the scourge of antisocial behaviour. My constituents deserve better than the current situation and I am determined to deliver that for them.