Davis: Scrap ID cards to pay for prisons
David Davis claims the Tories would scrap the expensive ID card scheme and use the extra money to build more prison places.
Tuesday, 02, Oct 2007 12:00
The Conservatives today pledged to scrap ID cards and end the early release of prisoners.
Shadow home secretary David Davis today vowed to scrap the "expensive white elephant" of the ID card scheme.
The savings this would create would be poured into building new prison places, allowing the Conservatives to drop the early release scheme.
Speaking to the Conservative party conference, Mr Davis attacked the early release of criminals as "reckless".
He said: "It will take a Conservative government to reverse Gordon Brown's perverse order of priorities. That puts murders and violent criminals on the streets and puts the public at risk."
The government began releasing selected non-violent offenders 18 days early in June to ease the prison overcrowding crisis.
Despite this, figures released last week show the prison population has again reached a new record high.
Mr Davis accused Labour of giving up on their pledge to tackle the causes of crime, in particular drug use.
Rather than attempting to "manage" addiction, he said a Conservative government would focus on getting people off drugs and onto abstinence based drugs rehabilitation programmes.
Throughout his speech, the shadow home secretary said Labour accepted too much as inevitable; from the economic decline of the post war years to social decline now.
He said New York showed extra policing and zero tolerance could dramatically cut crime.
Mr Davis risked echoing his opponent Jack Straw in calling for the law to be rebalanced in favour of victims.
He told delegates: "A Conservative government will back the police and back the people who uphold the law. We won't back those who break the law."
In an attempt to distance himself from Mr Straw's speech, Mr Davis mocked "vigilante Jack".
He quipped: "It's come to something, hasn't it when Gordon Brown presents himself as Dumfermline's answer to Mrs T. And Jack Straw presents himself as Blackburn's answer to Mister T."