Labour should have lived up to slogan – Blunkett

“Tough on crime, tough on the causes crime” helped Tony Blair convince sceptical voters the streets would be safe under a Labour government.

But now former Home Secretary and Sheffield Brightside MP David Blunkett has spoken of his “regret” that only one half of that famous slogan was fulfilled.

Mr Blunkett, who was in charge at the Home Office for three-and-a-half-years, has admitted more could have been done to tackle the root causes of offending.

In particular, the government could have done more to compensate for family and community breakdown.

He said: “We have done pretty well on the tough bit.

“My regret is that we didn't always manage the causes – actually putting in place alternatives to the stability, the structure, the framework which had disappeared from the family and to a substantial extent the community.

“That takes a lot more doing than simply having more youth workers, good as though some of them may be.

“It involves replacing the old structures of mentoring at home and work in a new way.”

Tony Blair vowed to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” in his first speech as Shadow Home Secretary at the 1992 Labour Party conference.

The speech was seen as an appeal to the electorate that the party was shifting away from its traditional libertarian approach on law and order.

The speech also marked Blair as one of the coming men of the party.