One of the most contested grounds in politics at the moment is law and order. It’s not just the high-profile cases of Sabina Nessa and Sarah Everard, but a growing sentiment among all voters that they don’t feel as safe as they once did. The Tories know this, which is why they’ve brought forward their controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Labour opposes that legislation largely on the basis that it includes an illiberal crackdown on the right to protest, though I understand that the shadow home affairs team were concerned that the party’s opposition to the Bill would undermine Labour’s claims to be tough on crime.
Today Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow Home Secretary, tried to move the focus away from the Bill and onto the lack of faith he said frontline police officers have in the Conservatives. He told the hall:
‘The safety of our communities is at risk from this government. The reality is that the Conservatives have failed on crime. This Home Secretary likes to talk tough but she never delivers. She says she backs our frontline police officers and staff but then insults them with a pay freeze. It’s no surprise that she has lost the confidence of 130,000 rank and file officers represented by the Police Federation, who are the undisputed voice of policing.’
His emphasis was on better funding for policing, taking direct aim at those on the left who have campaigned otherwise:
‘Some call for defunding the police. No Labour Home Secretary will ever defund the police. That’s not our party, that’s the Tory party and they have spent ten years defunding the police.’
He urged voters who had turned away from Labour at the last election to ‘look again’ at the party. Thomas-Symonds is a measured type and won’t have been close to the infighting that led to Andy McDonald resigning from the front bench amid accusations of a left-wing plot to ‘sabotage’ the conference. But he is presumably aware that when voters do look at the party at the moment, they’re unlikely to find that its home affairs message reads clearly.
Talking to those around the leader and members of the frontbench over the past 24 hours, I’ve found that most are pretty upbeat about McDonald’s resignation, seeing it as part of the left in retreat. There is, though, disquiet among shadow ministers, not so much about one of their number quitting but more about the failure of the team around Starmer to sell the rule changes he did secure at the weekend as being a big move and a big win. There is also discomfort that while there are announcements on the conference floor this week, they have been relatively low key and do not give voters much of a clue about what Labour wants to make Britain into. Perhaps it’s better if voters don’t take too close a look just yet.
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