Fly-Tippers Will Be Forced To Take Part In 'Clean-Up Squads' Under Labour

“Those who cause the mess will clean up the mess," Steve Reed said.
Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed MP
Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed MP
Getty

Fly-tippers will be forced to clean up their own mess under plans being drawn up by the Labour Party.

Anti-social offenders will have to take part in new “clean-up squads” to remove rubbish and vandalism, under the plan.

And culprits will also be hit with fixed penalty cleaning notices, if Labour wins the next general election.

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed will use a speech on Friday to condemn the “scourge” of anti-social behaviour.

He will promise to toughen up the use of community sentences and “give a voice” to victims and local communities.

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Labour pointed to home office figures revealing there had been 1.1 million incidents of anti-social behaviour recorded by police last year, equating to 3,000 incidents a day.

In a speech at Middle Temple, Reed will also pledge an “end-to-end” reform of the criminal justice system.

“Anti-social behaviour can leave communities feeling broken and powerless. It leads to a spiral of social and economic decline that a Labour government will not tolerate,” he will say.

“As justice secretary, I will strengthen community sentences to tackle anti-social behaviour and petty crime. Under this government their use has fallen by a half because courts no longer have confidence sentences will ever be carried out.

“Labour will address that by giving victims and community leaders a prominent role in the oversight of the system.”

Labour is proposing community and victim payback boards, to ensure community sentences are carried out and punishments meet the need of the local area.

Reed will add: “Those who cause the mess will clean up the mess.”

The party has been using Tony Blair’s famous 1997 promise that Labour would be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.

The phrase was also used by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper in a speech on Thursday, telling an audience that “it was right then, it is right now, it is what we did then, it is what we will do again”.

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