Labour should back ‘stop and search’ to deal with knife crime, say LabourList readers

LabourList readers believe that Labour should support the further use of ‘stop and search‘ in response to the rise in knife crime, our latest survey has found.

A majority of almost 56% of respondents said they backed the use of ‘stop and search’ police powers, excluding ‘don’t know’ answers. With ‘don’t know’ replies included, nearly 46% approved, 36% didn’t and 18% weren’t sure.

Coming after a week of knife crime dominating the news and politics due to a recent spike, the results indicate that readers are divided on the right approach to violent crime.

But they also suggest that criticism of ‘stop and search’ powers from top party figures such as Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott have not cut through. This could be because Labour has not advanced such arguments recently, choosing to focus instead on cuts to police numbers.

Last week, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission said it was looking into complaints about Labour’s handling of antisemitism cases and believed the party “may have unlawfully discriminated against people because of their ethnicity and religious beliefs”.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a former Tory chair, also called for a “full independent inquiry” into Islamophobia in her party as senior Conservative MPs denied there was a problem.

The survey found that LabourList readers believe the Labour Party is not institutionally antisemitic – but that the Conservative Party is institutionally Islamophobic.

An overwhelming 70% of readers said Labour’s antisemitism problem was not ‘institutional, while over 60% of 4,165 respondents said the Tories had an institutional Islamophobia problem.

If both Theresa May’s deal deal and ‘no deal’ are rejected by the Commons this week, as is likely, the Prime Minister has pledge to offer a vote to parliamentarians on extending Article 50.

Asked whether MPs should in favour of delaying Brexit, a very large majority of respondents – 81.5% – said ‘yes’. Just 14% said they shouldn’t, and over 4% were not certain.

1. Do you believe that the Labour Party is institutionally antisemitic?

1. No – 70.2% (2,939)
2. Yes – 20.6% (864)
3. Don’t know – 9.0% (379)

2. Do you believe that the Conservative Party is institutionally Islamophobic?

1. Yes – 60.1% (2,504)
2. No – 21.6% (900)
3. Don’t know – 18.2% (761)

3. If both Theresa May’s deal and ‘no deal’ are defeated next week, the Prime Minister has promised to give MPs a vote on Article 50 extension. Should MPs vote to extend Article 50, which would delay Brexit?

1. Yes – 81.5% (3,387)
2. No – 14.2% (593)
3. Don’t know – 4.2% (175)

4. Do you believe that Labour should support the further use of ‘stop and search’ in response to the rise in knife crime?

1. Yes – 45.7% (1,889)
2. No – 36.1% (1,491)
3. Don’t know – 18.1% (748)

The survey was open from 9am on Friday 8th March until 8pm on Sunday 10th March. Thank you to all 4,188 readers who took part.