Clegg, Burstow and Baker quiz Brown at PMQs

• [Mar 10] Nicholas Clegg: ' . . WILL the Prime Minister now admit the truth-that this Government are not tough on criminals, because they are turning the young offenders of today into the hardened criminals of tomorrow?'

'I wish to add my own expressions of sympathy and condolence to the families and friends of Corporal Stephen Thompson, from 1st Battalion the Rifles; Lance Corporal Tom Keogh, from 4th Battalion the Rifles; Rifleman Liam Maughan, from 3rd Battalion the Rifles; and Rifleman Jonathon Allott, from 3rd Battalion the Rifles. All tragically lost their lives serving bravely and selflessly in Afghanistan this week.

I also wish to add my tribute and that of my colleagues to the late and lamented Michael Foot. As we know from the warm tributes paid earlier, he was a great parliamentarian, a great orator and a great intellectual, but above all a man of great integrity.

Today's report from the National Audit Office lifts the lid on Labour's dark secret. Thirteen years of tough talk on crime has actually turned our prisons into colleges of crime. Repeat crime, as the report shows, now costs the taxpayer £10 billion a year and the human cost of tens of thousands of victims is even higher. Will the Prime Minister now admit the truth-that this Government are not tough on criminals, because they are turning the young offenders of today into the hardened criminals of tomorrow?

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[10068.]

Gordon Brown (Prime Minister; Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Labour): I have to tell the right hon. Gentleman the facts. Reoffending among young people is down 25 per cent. Whatever he says, he has to face up to the fact that crime is down in this country, violent crime is down in this country and the number of police in this country has gone up. People have a right to feel safer and we are doing more with neighbourhood policing. He cannot give the House information that he cannot back up with the statistics.

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How many prisoners are suffering from mental illness which should be treated in hospital by specialists in the psychiatric services?

Submitted by Alix Cull

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Nicholas Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam, Liberal Democrat): How can the Prime Minister defend a record in which nine out of every 10 young men who go into prison on short-term sentences go out and commit another crime within two years? Under Labour, prison is not working. He is spending 11 times more on locking children up than on stopping them committing crime in the first place. Will he not admit that he talks tough on crime and ignores the evidence, but it is the victims who end up paying the price?

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Gordon Brown (Prime Minister; Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Labour): Again, the right hon. Gentleman cannot ignore the facts. There are 20,000 more prison places. Adult reoffending has fallen and youth reoffending has fallen. If he would support us on CCTV and DNA, we might be more able to catch criminals at the right time and in the right place. I share with him a desire to prevent young people from reoffending, and a desire that prison is better at educating people for the future, but he cannot ignore the advances that have been made or that youth reoffending is down 25 per cent.

. . Paul Burstow (Sutton & Cheam, Liberal Democrat): Last week, 170 families in Sutton Cheam and Worcester park learned that their children had not been offered a place at the local high school in my constituency. That means that many boys and girls in my area are the casualties of an unfair admissions system that has condemned them to go to schools that are unpopular and miles away from their homes. Will the Prime Minister look at my private Member's Bill setting out proposals to deal with that issue, and will he take the steps necessary to ensure that no child gets left behind in this way again?

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Gordon Brown (Prime Minister; Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Labour): At the moment, as the hon. Gentleman knows, the admissions framework ensures that all parents are free to consider the right school, not just the nearest. Last year more than 85 per cent. of Sutton parents secured one of their three most preferred schools. I recognise the intention behind his comments, but I have to tell him that anything that narrows the range of schools available to all families is not something we can support.

. . Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat): It is unfair on rail passengers and contrary to the Government's carbon reduction strategy that, since 1997, the cost of motoring has decreased by 14 per cent. while the cost of rail fares has gone up in real terms by 13 per cent. Given that a large reason for this is the Government's policy of forcing up rail fares by 1 per cent. above inflation every single year, will the Prime Minister now give the House and the country an assurance that, if a Labour Government are re-elected, they will end their RPI plus 1 policy and their train fare escalator?

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Gordon Brown (Prime Minister; Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Labour): The railways are carrying more passengers and more freight than ever since the second world war, and we will be announcing plans tomorrow to expand our railways to ensure that we have the most modern railways for the future. I believe that passengers welcome the fact not only that we have better services but that trains arrive on time. It is important to recognise the huge investment that this Government have made in the railways of this country.

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