Keir Starmer calls for plan for new 'royal yacht' to be SCRAPPED

Keir Starmer calls for plan for new ‘royal yacht’ to be SCRAPPED… and wants the money used to crack down on anti-social behaviour instead

  • Labour leader last night said plans for new ‘royal yacht’ should be scrapped
  • Move will draw comparisons with Tony Blair’s focus on anti-social behaviour  
  • Sir Kier has accused ministers of ‘dropping the ball’ on anti-social behaviour  

Sir Keir Starmer will today try to drag Labour back towards the political centre ground with a pledge to crack down on ‘sickening’ anti-social behaviour.

The Labour leader last night said controversial plans for a new ‘royal yacht’ should be scrapped, with the savings used to fund the deployment of more CCTV cameras and community support officers in communities blighted by crime.

The move will draw comparisons with Tony Blair’s focus on anti-social behaviour as he forged New Labour more than two decades ago.

Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, accused ministers of ‘dropping the ball’ on anti-social behaviour.

In an echo of Mr Blair’s famous pledge to be ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’, Sir Keir accused Boris Johnson of being ‘soft on crime, soft on the causes of crime’.  

The Labour leader last night said controversial plans for a new ‘royal yacht’ should be scrapped, with the savings used to fund the deployment of more CCTV cameras and community support officers in communities blighted by crime

Figures from the national crime survey suggest that 19million people suffered the impact of anti-social behaviour in 2019-20 – up by one million on the previous year, and a rise of 40 per cent on the 13.5million reporting problems a decade earlier.

Sir Keir, pictured, told the Mail: ‘I spent five years as chief prosecutor and I saw too many examples of crime which some people said was low-level not being tackled before it escalated. 

That anti-social behaviour ends up terrorising people. Many people won’t go out of their own home, don’t feel like they can go down their own street, won’t go out after dark.

‘Obviously it takes different forms – sometimes it’s abuse, sometimes it’s driving cars around at speed, sometimes it’s taking drugs on corners and children being intimidated walking to school.’ 

Labour’s plan would create a £283million fund to tackle anti-social behaviour in the worst-affected communities.

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