Brighton & Hove Labour Group’s Community Safety spokesperson Cllr Warren Morgan, has joined Alan Johnson, Shadow Home Secretary, in welcoming crime figures today which show that crime in the UK has continued to fall. 

Cllr Morgan said:

"Overall crime is down 6% in Sussex from last year which is promising news.

"The Tory-Liberal coalition government and the local Tory-run council are putting this reduction in crime at risk – and there is still more work to be done to reduce crime. Brighton & Hove Council is cutting funding to projects tackling youth crime and there can be no justification for Coalition cuts to front-line policing.

"We all accept that we have to reduce the deficit but I’ve seen in the community I represent the positive effect grants to youth projects and the setting up of neighbourhood police teams has had. There must be no going back to the days of lives ruined by crime because government does not act."

 Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson MP said:

"These figures again demonstrate how impressively the police and other agencies tackled crime under the Labour Government. But rather than congratulating everyone who has worked so hard to make our country safer, we now have the bizarre spectacle of Tory ministers trashing the official figures which show undeniably that crime has fallen.

"These statistics are from a period of recession, refuting Ken Clarke’s argument that falls in crime were solely down to greater prosperity.

"The coalition is putting all this good work at risk by reducing police numbers, restricting police powers, removing Police Authorities and reducing prison places."

ENDS

Notes to editors

2009/10 British Crime Survey can be found here