Violence Reduction, Policing and Criminal Justice

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate on the King’s Speech. Much of the work on crime and policing, I of course welcome: tougher sentencing for the most serious criminals; action on grooming gangs; and action on criminal gangs facilitating illegal migration. It is incredibly important, too, that we think about lower-level crime, such as shop theft, that is blighting many of our communities. In Ipswich town, which I represent, we have seen an increase in shop theft. It is almost at the point where it is outstripping pre-covid levels. Data is often not collected on a number of crimes, so we must have a deterrent in place. We have reached a stage where some businesses in Ipswich town centre are locking their doors and people must ring a bell to be allowed in, which is having a significant effect on footfall.

There are also groups of men hanging around and behaving in an intimidating way, and this is putting a number of my constituents off of going into the town centre. I lose count of the number of times that, when I knock on doors in my constituency, I am told by people that they go shopping elsewhere—that they are shunning their own town centre. That is utterly depressing for people who care passionately about the future of their town.

I have just done a survey on the town centre. I asked people which two options out of eight were the most important to get them back into the town centre; the first was the police adopting a new zero-tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour and crime. I will be working on with Suffolk Constabulary and the Home Office to make sure that that happens.

On the protests that we have been seeing recently, I and a number of my constituents were absolutely appalled and shocked by some of the activity that took place in our nation’s capital last weekend. There were antisemitic posters displaying a hatred that we hope has no place in our society. We saw the police posting pictures of individuals spreading hate—the worst form of hate and racism. Those individuals were not challenged at that moment; it is not enough to post pictures of these individuals after the event, saying, “Who are they? Can you help us?” The police should get in there straightaway, hold these people to account and punish them for the hate they are spreading.

To be perfectly honest, however strongly someone may feel about any cause, whether it is what is happening in Palestine or anything else, if they cannot put their posters and banners aside for two days to remember our war heroes, they should take a serious look in the mirror. People can protest on a Monday, on a Thursday or on a Friday, but that weekend is dedicated to remembering the best of us—the people who have died fighting for this country and its values.

I resented the fact that the marches went ahead at the weekend. I do not think that they should have happened at all, and I made my views incredibly clear on that. I find it utterly depressing that hundreds of thousands of people seem to be prepared, and think it is okay, to go on that kind of protest instead of respecting the people who fought for this country, for what it is, and for its values and institutions.

[Florence Eshalomi]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Tom Hunt]

No, I am not going to give way in this speech.

I have great respect for the police of this country, but that does not mean that they do not sometimes get it wrong, or that as Members of Parliament we cannot, from time to time, criticise their approach to an issue. It is completely legitimate to do so. When activists in the streets are aggressively calling for jihad, I do not think it is okay to engage in semantics about what they may or may not have meant. Virtually everyone in this country knew what that person meant when they called for jihad on our streets, and it is despicable that action has not been taken against that individual; it absolutely should be.

With regard to the broader issue of Israel-Palestine, I mourn the loss of life on both sides, as everyone in this House does. I am utterly depressed about the situation, as are most of my constituents. I want a two-state solution, just like everybody else does, but I am not convinced that an immediate ceasefire right now would work or be appropriate, when one side would not respect it and has made that abundantly clear. Hamas must be destroyed. Over four years ago, I went to a kibbutz on the border with Gaza. My understanding is that a good number of those people have now been killed in a massacre. We must never forget the evil that happened that day. The enemy of the people of Gaza is Hamas, and we must work cross-party to support Hamas being destroyed. At the same time, every step must be taken to minimise the loss of life, but it is incredibly hard when Hamas are using innocent people as human shields. That is something we must acknowledge.