Labour says Rishi Sunak’s antisocial behaviour plan is a weaker version of its own policy – UK politics live | Politics

Sunak and Braverman heckled on walkabout in Essex

Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour MP at the next election, Keir Starmer will confirm at tomorrow’s meeting of the party’s national executive committee (NEC), my colleague Pippa Crerar reports.

Q: [From the Telegraph] Do you think capital gains tax rates should be brought in with income tax rates, as Labour seems to be considering?

Sunak ignores the question about tax rates, but stresses what the government is doing to help people with the cost of living.

Q: Will you open talks with the new SNP leader on an independence referendum?

Sunak says he is a big supporter of the union. He points out that he was in Wales at the end of last week.

And that’s it. The event is over.

Q: [From the Sun] Prime ministers since Tony Blair have been promising to tackle antisocial behaviour. Why should we trust you to deliver?

Sunak says people have seen what he has done as PM, and he gets things done. He only promises what he can deliver. He is confident he can deliver on this.

He says he is doing significant things – banning laughing gas, and increasing hotspots.

Q: Are you concerned by reports saying Suella Braverman is acting as a sock puppet for Tory rebels on migration?

Sunak says the government has to address this. He thinks the government is doing it in a compassionate way.

Braverman has done a “superb job”, on this. They have been working to get the leglislation right.

This bill goes further than previous legislation. It will be effective. But the government has to abide by its international obligations too, he says. He says this bill will do that.

The question was inspired by this story in the Times. It says:

Suella Braverman is accused of secretly backing a backbench rebellion against her own illegal migration bill to push Downing Street into toughening up measures to tackle the small boats crisis.

Senior government sources said the home secretary was a “sock puppet” under the influence of Tory hardliners who believe that Rishi Sunak has not gone far enough to clamp down on Channel crossings.

Q: The chief constable in Essex says officers are having to take second jobs, or use food banks, because they are not paid enough. Do you agree they should be paid more?

Sunak says the government has accepted the recommendation on police pay.

But the government has to get inflation down. Halving inflation is his top priority, he says. He says he has a plan, and it will work.

If there is nothing else, you can trust that I can manage an economy.

Q: Will shops still be allowed to sell laughing gas?

Sunak says the current law says it is not meant to be sold as a drug, but that is clearly not working. The government will consult on how to enforce the new law.

People do need to be able to buy this for catering and healthcare.

The government will work on this over the spring and the summer.

Sunak says the Louise Casey report was appalling. But there are countless good police officers, he says.

He ignores an invitation to say he wants to see more officers like Happy Valley’s Catherine Cawood recruited.

Sunak tries to move on to the next question, but a man in the audience who is not a journalist interrupts, and asks why the police are not more visible. Can’t they at least drive around, he asks.

Sunak says it is not for him to say how much time they should spend in cars, and how much patrolling on foot. But he wants the police to be as effective as possible, he says.

Q: Should children as young as eight be strip-searched?

Sunak says the report on this that came out at the weekend, from the children’s commissioner, is concerning. The Home Office will look at this in detail.

Sunak is now taking media questions.

Mark Easton from the BBC is finally allowed to ask his question.

Q: Your expert advisers on drugs say banning laughing gas could have unintended consequences. They say this ban risks harming children and empowering criminals.

Sunak says it is important to have a zero-tolerance approach. He says people are fed up with the mess caused by the canisters.

Places like the Netherlands and California have already banned this.

And it is already illegal to sell this for use as a drug, he says.

He says lots of people have spoken to him about this.

As Alex Wickham from Politico points out, the questions Rishi Sunak is getting this morning suggest this audience is not happy with the government’s record on crime.

Q: The Conservatives have “dropped the ball a little bit, to be honest”. The questioner says laughing gas is the least of their problems. People are using much harder drugs. He has skimmed through the action plan document. Some of it is good. But punishments need to be firmer. People probably won’t turn up for community sentences. And the government needs to tackle drugs at source.

Sunak agrees. Drugs are appalling, he says. They are a scourge. And there is a direct link between drugs and other crimes, like violence.

He says laughing gas is the third most popular with young people, after cocaine and cannabis.

He says the government is acting to disrupt county lines. Some 3,500 have been disrupted, he says.

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He agrees on the need for tough sentences, and for the people at the top to be caught.

He agrees that drugs ruin lives, he says.

Q: Airbnbs also produce antisocial behaviour. We have a property near us let as an Airbnb. In this one, 10 people can stay. There are hot tubs, and noisy behaviour can go on all night. You don’t expect this in an area of Chelmsford like this.

Sunak says this is a really good point. He expresses his sympathy for the questioner. He will consider this, he says. He thinks ministers are looking at this problem already.

He says the plan includes powers to evict antisocial tenants more quickly. The eviction time should be halved, he says – although he accepts this does not apply to Airbnb customers.

Q: Football is a good way of engaging young people, but lack of facilities is a problem. What support is there?

Sunak asks if the questioner is saying this is a planning issue.

Q: It’s money and planning.

Sunak says the government is investing £300m over this parliament to build new youth facilities.

On football, the government has partnered with the Premier League and the FA to roll out 3G football pitches.

Q: We work with vulnerable youth across Essex. Many are dropping out of school because they are not coping. We welcome this, but we need to look at the causes of antisocial behaviour too.

Sunak says Covid has led to young people having more mental health problems. The government is funding a mental health lead for all schools. That is being rolled out.

He says his antisocial behaviour action plan includes an extra 1m hours of youth provision.

And family breakdown is an issue too, he says. The supporting families programme addresses this, he says. It used to be the troubled families programme, but the name was changed. Caseworkers help families access different services. Sunak says his first ministerial job in government involved being in charge of this.

The next questioner asks Sunak if he has ever used the non-emergency police number. It is “the most frustrating thing in the world”, he says.

Sunak says this is a good point. But he claims this plan, and hotspot policing, will make a difference.

Sunak invites questions. He says people can ask about anything, not just antisocial behaviour.

The first person he calls is Mark Easton, the BBC’s home affairs editor.

As Easton starts speaking, Sunak realises he is a journalist (he does not seem to recognise him), and he says he will take media questions at the end.

Rishi Sunak’s speech and Q&A

Ministers expected to toughen illegal migration bill to placate Tory rebels

Labour says Rishi Sunak’s antisocial behaviour plan is a weaker version of its own policy