Recent proposals by both Labour and Conservatives for instant fines for drunken behaviour and soft drugs possession ran into a wall of opposition from police as unworkable. More speed cameras will also be set up to fine drivers. Welfare cheats will suffer under proposed measures to stop benefits for anyone convicted of twice making fraudulent claims. Employers colluding in benefit fraud could face instant fines of up to 5,000 pounds as an alternative to prosecution. Blair also reintroduced a bill, thrown out by the House of Lords in the last session, limiting the right of defendants to trial by jury.
Opponents say the bill undermines centuries-old judicial rights.
An average 24 per cent of crimes are currently going unrecorded, according to a recent study. The report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary revealed that crime figures could be nearly a quarter higher than official statistics suggest. Official figures show that a total of 5.3 million offences were reported to police in the 12 months to March compared with 5.1 million in the previous year. There was a 16 per cent increase in violent crimes with robbery jumping 26.1 per cent and the most serious cases of violence up 12.6 per cent. The amount of crimes going unrecorded varied from force to force ranging from 0.45 per cent to 7 per cent.