Muggings, assaults and vandalism have all shot up. The news was a major blow to Home Secretary Jack Straw, who admitted police numbers have tumbled by 2,000 under him. The nation's streets are 13 per cent more violent than when Labour took power, according to Home Office figures. Overall, violent crime rose eight per cent in the year to last September. Of course I would like the figures to be better.
Crime is still too high.
I am not complacent. The Government put a brave face on the figures by stressing that burglaries and car thefts fell for the seventh year on the trot. It pointed to a ten per cent fall in break-ins and a seven per cent cut in car crime as signs of a breakthrough in the crime war. And it toasted an overall fall in crime of 0.2 per cent since 1999 - a total of seven per cent since 1997. Tony Blair, who knows crime will be a key election issue, had been hoping for a fall across the board in every type of offence.