𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain doesn’t have a crime problem because criminals have suddenly become smarter. It has a crime problem because politicians have become weaker. Labour promised to smash the gangs. Instead, they are making Britain easier to exploit for organised criminals while asking decent, law-abiding people to pick up the bill. Just look at what is happening across the country. I recently challenged the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s Questions over the case of an illegal migrant in my constituency of Ashfield who raped a vulnerable young girl.

He is now serving 14 years in prison, but the truth is that he should never have been in Britain in the first place. That appalling crime should never have happened. Instead of answering the question, Keir Starmer reached for the usual political excuses. Not a word for the victim. Not a word about why this man was allowed into the country. That tells you everything.

Labour is weak on crime, weak on borders and completely detached from the reality facing ordinary people.

Now Andy Burnham wants to lead the Labour Party. He talks about a “Number 10 North” and moving more government jobs to Manchester. More symbolism. More gimmicks. More politics.

But where is the plan to get criminals off our streets?

Where is the plan to stop organised gangs?

Where is the plan to restore law and order?

Manchester itself tells the real story. Recorded drug crime in Greater Manchester soared by 27% last year under Andy Burnham’s watch, with police recording 19,345 drug offences in 2025. If that is his blueprint for Britain, the country should be deeply worried.

Labour loves talking tough on crime. The reality is very different. Internal Home Office figures reveal that around 50,000 illegal migrants have absconded from the system, including more than 1,200 foreign national offenders. That’s 50,000 people the Government has simply lost track of.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, ministers are making decisions that hand organised criminals even more opportunities to profit.

Take tobacco. Ministers are pressing ahead with yet another tax hike this autumn. It sounds tough in Westminster. In reality it is a gift to the black market.

Every time taxes rise further, more smokers are driven towards illegal cigarettes sold by criminal gangs. Honest shopkeepers lose customers. The Treasury loses billions in revenue. Criminal networks make even more money.

HMRC estimates that £1.7 billion was lost in tobacco duty between 2024/2025 because of the illicit trade.

The same flawed thinking is appearing elsewhere. New restrictions on gambling risk driving punters towards illegal offshore websites that pay no tax, offer no protection and operate entirely outside British law.

Once again, the gangs win.

It is the same failed Labour approach every time. Announce a headline. Ignore the consequences. Leave ordinary people to deal with the mess.

The black market has exploded across Britain. Illegal tobacco is available in almost every town. Criminal gangs are expanding into new markets because this Government keeps making those markets more profitable.

You cannot claim to be cracking down on organised crime while introducing policies that put more money into organised crime.

The British people want safe streets. They want secure borders. They want criminals punished, not rewarded by government incompetence.

Labour promised action. Instead we have higher crime, weaker borders and policies that make criminal gangs richer.

Britain deserves better than empty slogans and headline-grabbing gimmicks. We need politicians with the courage to secure our borders, lock up criminals and stop handing organised gangs new ways to make money.

Only Reform is prepared to take the tough decisions needed to restore law and order, put the interests of decent, law-abiding people first and make Britain a country where criminals fear the law again, not a government that keeps funding them by mistake