Cameron call for magistrates to have the power to jail thugs

Returning to traditional Tory territory after a difficult summer, the Conservative leader accused Labour of 'deep complacency' over law and order.

He said ministers had introduced 'wave upon wave' of headline grabbing legislation, but failed to enact or enforce much of it.

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Unveiling details of a concerted programme to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, Mr Cameron also promised:

Tax breaks for married couples to strengthen stable families.

An end to Labour's early release scheme.

Cuts to red tape that mean police spend only a fifth of their time on the beat.

Powers for headteachers to exclude unruly pupils without appeal,

A British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act, Mr Cameron highlighted a poll suggesting that half the public feel more frightened on the streets than they did a decade ago.

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"It's not just the fear that matters - it's the damage to our quality of life," he added.

"Vomit and glass in the town centres, graffiti and litter and urine in the stairways of blocks of flats, flytipping in country lanes.

"Aggression and foul language on the train and the bus, general disrespect, all the little acts of ugliness that people have to put up with in the course of a day.

"Is this an inevitable feature of life?

"I don't believe so. Other cities, other countries, have fought the battle with anti-social behaviour and won."

Mr Cameron said Labour had confused 'activity with action and initiatives with results' in its efforts to tackle crime and disorder.

One in five of the sections of the flagship 2003 Criminal Justice Act - the centrepiece of Labour's attack on crime - had either been repealed or not implemented at all, he said.

One provision never enacted was the power for magistrates to sentence an offender to a maximum of a year's imprisonment, up from the current six months.

Mr Cameron said that with early release, that meant magistrates' powers were really limited to imprisoning offenders for little more than two months.

Proposing to extend the time limit to a year, Mr Cameron said: "A 12-month sentencing power would enable the community-based lower courts to get real criminals off their streets."

The change proposed by Mr Cameron would see magistrates given the power to jail for up to a year offenders convicted of crimes including affray, violent disorder, actual and grievous bodily harm, theft, fraud, possession of controlled drugs, arson, criminal damage, dangerous driving, and less serious sexual assaults.

Speaking at a community centre in Darwen, Lancashire, the Tory leader also said powers enabling judges to disqualify young offenders from holding or obtaining a driving licence should not be restricted to driving offences as current Government guidance suggests.

"Common sense suggests that with young people you need to hit them where it hurts - in their lifestyle and their aspirations," said Mr Cameron. "I'd like to see judges and magistrates tell a 15-year-old boy convicted of buying alcohol or causing a disturbance that the next time he appears in court, he'll have his driving licence delayed.

"And then I'd like that boy to tell his friends what the judge said."

On proposed tax breaks for married couples, full details of which are expected to be unveiled at the Conservative conference in October, Mr Cameron said: "We need to help couples stay together, not drive them apart with the tax and benefits system.

"Because in the end, it is stable homes - good values taught in the home - that is the best way to tackle crime in the long-term."

Magistrates' leaders welcomed Mr Cameron's proposals, but children's minister Beverley Hughes accused him of 'lurching to the Right' to appeal to Tory hardliners.

She said: "David Cameron's talk of anarchy in the UK is irresponsible scaremongering from an increasingly opportunist and desperate politician.

"The fact is that the Tories have no solutions and no family policies to speak of, other than going back to a two-tier family tax policy that would disadvantage and treat as second-class all children and families whose parents are widowed, separated or divorced.

"David Cameron is not proposing solutions for the future of our country. He is just lurching to the Right to try to appease his divided party."