Lord Michael Gove has hit out at successive governments for failing to address anti-social behaviour after claiming it has not been taken seriously since Sir Tony Blair was in office.
The former communities secretary criticised the “pushback” during David Cameron’s coalition government against New Labour’s “respect agenda” of the early 2000s.
Lord Gove said anti-social behaviour was knocking “pride in place” for many communities across Britain during an evidence session of the cross-party Independent Commission on Community Cohesion.
The Conservative politician said: “Everything from the public consumption of drugs through to the inadequate street lighting, through to the absence of authority figures, whether uniformed or not, on our streets – all of them come together, and also the fact that the police will either not prosecute or pursue a number of crimes, from shoplifting to public drug consumption, to examples of rowdiness and raucousness.
Lord Gove said anti-social behaviour was knocking ‘pride in place’ for many communities across Britain
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GETTY“So, that’s one of the first things to deal with.
“And I don’t think, looking back, the issue’s been taken sufficiently seriously since Tony Blair, actually, if I’m honest.”
Despite serving in ministerial roles under five separate governments, Lord Gove said: “During the coalition years there was a sort of slight pushback against Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and the respect agenda, from a sort of civil libertarian point of view.
“And I can see that, but it got things wrong. It’s not where the public were, and certainly not where they are now.”
Lord Gove said the issue has not been taken seriously since Tony Blair was in office
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PASir Tony’s government brought in a host of measures which sought to tackle anti-social behaviour, including the ASBO as part of its “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” approach.
Despite its early popularity, the measure saw high rates of breaches and was ultimately replaced in England and Wales with criminal behaviour orders and civil injunctions in 2014.
The Labour Government are set to partially replace injunctions with ASBO-style “respect orders” in a bid to give authorities more power to tackle the issue.
Over 955,000 reports of anti-social behaviour have been filed in England and Wales so far this year, a slight increase from this time last year according to CrimeRate.
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Over 955,000 reports of anti-social behaviour have been filed in England and Wales so far this year |
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Lord Gove also noted the lack of civic participation was damaging pride in place, adding it would be “very, very difficult for the state or its agencies to encourage”.
He added: “The more that lads and dads are going to football together. The more that people are going to places of worship and joining in the activities around that, the better overall.
“But you can’t make people love football, you can’t enforce good parenting, you can’t make people want to take part in a rich civic life if they don’t want to.
“And there are bigger social trends which are encouraging atomisation so that the 11-year-old who might have been going to watch QPR (Queen’s Park Rangers) 20 or 30 years ago is now more likely to be playing Fifa at home.”
Lord Gove also outlined the importance of having a “right mix” of shops on high streets to boost a sense of community, noting that “people feel that high streets that have, again, vape shops, Turkish barbers, charity shops and voids in particular are a problem”.
The Independent Commission on Community Cohesion was established in the aftermath of last summer’s civil unrest “to understand how to enhance community connectedness, cohesion and resilience” across Britain.
The commission is chaired by former Home Secretary Sajid Javid alongside former Labour MP Jon Cruddas.
It has been supported by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, despite not being officially sponsored by the Government.
