The drug and crime culture portrayed in 'The Wire' is in British cities too

In a keynote speech on crime and broken communities today, Chris Grayling has highlighted the “decade of neglect” under Labour – a decade in which “violence in our society has become a norm and not an exception”.

“Since Labour came to power, the level of violent crime in Britain has risen dramatically, by 70 per cent. Gun crime is up by more than half and there are more than 100 serious knife crimes each day. Under Labour, fatal stabbings reached the highest level on record.”

These figures, he said, showed that the drug and crime culture of the award winning US series ‘The Wire’ is increasingly becoming a feature of British cities as well:

“The culture of violence that was a feature of US cities a generation ago is now a feature of British cities. The Wire used to be just a work of fiction for British viewers. But under this Government, in many parts of British cities, The Wire has become a part of real life in this country too”.