Andy Cook, is CEO of the Centre for Social Justice.
This week we have become painfully aware of the lawlessness that is troubling many of Britain’s most neglected communities. In just a few days, Middlesbrough was plunged into terror, with the spectre of gang violence still hanging over the town.
This must serve as an urgent wake-up call.
The crime and insecurity that local residents have had to endure are becoming all too familiar across the country.
This week the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) published the findings of a year-long inquiry into the state of Britain’s high streets, with a particular focus on what is often but wrongly called ‘low-level’ crime.
The findings are deeply concerning.
Some 21 million people in England and Wales experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour last year, with two incidents reported to the police every minute. Retailers estimate that 5.5 million shop thefts took place, while more than 4,000 ‘dodgy’ shops had illegal tobacco or vaping products seized.
The inquiry took evidence from police forces, trading standards officers, frontline charities and residents. One Trading Standards officer said that the amount of criminality in their locality is “unprecedented”. One businessman said that the real problem is that too often “crime pays”, while hard work does not.
But one theme arose so frequently that it came to define the inquiry’s conclusion: Britain’s high streets have become “consequence-free zones”. From balaclava-clad gangs riding modified e-bikes, to aggressive begging, fly-tipping, and visible drug use, Britain’s high streets feel increasingly dangerous and unwelcome.
For businesses, the consequences are immediate.
Following a record high last year, police-recorded shoplifting remains 41 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. Shop workers face threats and violence, legitimate traders lose customers and criminal businesses undercut those playing by the rules.
Community life is also torn apart. The analysis found that people who living in the most lawless communities (by a range of measures) are the least likely to trust their neighbours, or to say that people from different backgrounds get on. Social cohesion is impossible without restoring order.
And so Kemi Badenoch is right to make the “collapse of consequences” a central pillar of the Conservatives’ plan for law and order.
It is a concern shared by the public, with more than half now saying the justice system is bad at handling anti-social behaviour. Restoring confidence in the police and courts depends on taking a firm approach to high-street crime.
The report therefore advances a plan that should command support across the political spectrum.
First, it calls for tough new sanctions for those who refuse to change their behaviour yet make the streets miserable for all. Benefits should be docked to recover unpaid fines, while persistent criminal or anti-social behaviour by members of a household should put social housing tenancies at risk. Welfare comes with obligations. Why should someone receive a benefit from their community when they actively contribute to its destruction?
Second, we need to restore faith in our courts’ ability to deal effectively with so-called ‘low-level’ crime. The government should set up “fast-track” courts in areas struggling the most with shoplifting and ASB. These would be specifically set up to take offenders from charge to sentence within 72 hours, with mandated tagging, location restrictions, and curfews for repeat offenders.
Third, enforcement alone will not revive our town centres. We need to unlock the high streets people actually want: thriving pubs and restaurants, attractive shopfronts and community institutions that bring people together. The report proposes a permanently lower rate of VAT for hospitality – as is common across the continent – paid for by reforms to welfare, as well as faster planning for developments meeting local design codes.
Ultimately, a firm and fair approach to high street crime is also the most compassionate. Permissiveness simply allows the problem to get worse and traps the next generation in lives marred by crime.
I despaired when I saw videos of young people setting cars ablaze, clad in balaclavas, in a twisted memorial to the five men who died in the same crash as two brave police officers.
But the determination shown by police officers, local leaders and residents in response gives me hope. Firm enforcement, coupled with investment in the institutions that hold communities together, can restore security to our high streets.
Communities afflicted by lawlessness have been left to suffer for too long. It is time to bring hope and order back.