Unit 4: Political issues by Dr Claire Annesley The Lecturer in European Politics at the GIPP, School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester writes for BBC Parliament

Politicians value the force of bobbies on the beat

In the past the parties on the left and right have occupied quite different ideological positions concerning law and order.

The right wing position is a pessimistic one which maintains that humans are innately weak and are naturally inclined to break the law unless there is a deterrent and sanctions imposed by a government.

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The left wing position on the other hand is more optimistic. It claims that humans are by nature law abiding and co-operative and only transgress from this when they are trapped in poor economic or social circumstances (Jones, 2001, 544).

Thus, the policies on the Conservative Party have traditionally emphasised discipline, deterrence and the punishment of individuals, while the policies of the Labour Party have concentrated on tackling the underpinning social and economic deprivation which they believe leads to crime, and on rehabilitating those who commit an offence.

For many years the perception was that the Conservatives are the party of law and order and that the Labour Party is 'soft' on crime.

Since the 1970s law and order has become a central policy issue as there have been increasing concerns about the real or perceived levels of crime.

Thatcher came to power in 1979 with a commitment to reducing crime levels and aimed to do so by strengthening using the state to reinforce law and order.

Crack-down

Consequently, the 1980s was characterised by increased police powers and police spending, stiffer sentences and a rising prison population.

The 18 years of Conservative Government introduced no less than 34 new pieces of law and order legislation (Benyon and Edwards, 1998, 329). Yet the level of crime did not fall.

In the 1990s the Conservatives were forced to reassess their position away from pure individual responsibility and deterrents.

They conceded that economic factors might have a bearing on crime and conceded that economic downturns do indeed lead to rises in the level of crime.

Moreover, they turned to engage communities in the fight against crime.

At the same time, the Labour Party exploited the Conservative failure to address crime effectively and positioned itself as the party which was best able to tackle this problem.

As a consequence, there is a growing perception that the two parties' traditionally contrasting political stances on law and order are converging (Jones, 2001, 545; Benyon and Edwards, 1998, 340-1).

The Labour Party clearly appears to have adopted a mixture of both Conservative harshness, emphasising individual responsibility, and its traditional stance which seeks to address the underlying causes of crime.

This hybrid position is epitomised by Labour's 1997 election pledge to be both 'tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime' (Parmar, 2000, 208).

There are mixed assessments of whether a balance has been struck. Some claim that Labour's 1998 Crime and Disorder Act which promotes 'zero tolerance' policing and coming down hard on youth crime, anti-social behaviour and drugs is clearly a right wing approach.

Others argue that new institutions such as the Social Exclusion Unit and new policies such as the New Deals for young people and communities are significant measures to tackle the causes of crime and are ones which would not have been promoted by the Conservatives.

� Dr Claire Annesley 2004
Department of Government
University of Manchester
email: [email protected]