Tough on crime? Britain’s new political battleground

<p>Petty crime is emerging as a central battleground of the next election. The Prime Minister has announced headline-grabbing plans to ban laughing gas (nitrous oxide), which the Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, has described as an “increasing scourge”. This swiftly followed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/morning-call/2023/03/keir-starmer-wants-to-be-tough-on-crime-but-are-his-targets-impossible" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">big speech</a>&nbsp;on law and order from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, which unveiled ambitions to reverse rising crime rates.</p><br /><p>Anoosh Chakelian, Rachel Wearmouth and Zoë Grünewald discuss Rishi Sunak’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2023/03/rishi-sunak-tough-crime-tories-credible" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">big idea</a>&nbsp;of “immediate justice” and whether this would win immediate votes in the local elections – or is even possible at all.</p><br /><p>They also analyse Labour’s ambitious “tough on crime” agenda, the damning findings of the Casey report into the Met’s toxic culture, and why tackling crime is easier than tackling austerity.</p><br /><p>In You Ask Us, they chat about Jeremy Corbyn’s future in answer to a question from a listener: should the Labour Party be a broad church?</p><br /><p>If you have a question for You Ask Us, go to&nbsp;<a href="newstatesman.com/youaskus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newstatesman.com/youaskus</a></p><br /><p>Subscribers can get an ad free version of the NS Podcast on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2022/06/newapp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New Statesman app</a>&nbsp;</p><br /><p>Podcast listeners can subscribe to the&nbsp;<em>New Statesman</em>&nbsp;for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newstatesman.com/podcastoffer</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>LISTEN AD-FREE:</strong></p><p>📱<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2022/06/newapp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Download the New Statesman app</a></p><br /><p><strong>MORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:</strong></p><p>❓ <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/2022/10/you-ask-us" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ask a question</a> – we answer them every Friday</p><p>⏰ <a href="https://morningcall.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Get our daily politics newsletter</a> every morning</p><p>✍️ <a href="http://saturdayread.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Enjoy the best of our writing</a> via email every Saturday</p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>