Figures show crime is hitting the poor hardest

New figures show that crime is now at its worst in Britain's poorest communities. All of the top twenty deprived areas in Britain are in the top 10% for crime, and within individual local authority areas the poorer parts are experiencing much worse crime than the prosperous parts.

The Conservatives have also uncovered data showing that the unemployed are twice as likely to experience violent crime and burglary as those in work.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said that this research “completely undermines Labour’s claim to be the party of progressive politics”. Commenting on the increasing levels of violent crime and burglary, he added:

“The people who are at the sharp end of this are the people who face the biggest challenges in their lives in some of our most deprived communities. Billions of pounds, endless initiatives and a decade of rhetoric later, and the reality is that the Government has let those people down comprehensively."