Vera Baird to lead commission informing work towards Labour’s crime mission

Labour has announced the creation of a new commission to inform the party’s work towards its crime ‘mission’ amid what it described as a “shocking collapse in the proportion of crimes solved”.

The party today unveiled a new ‘charging commission’ made up of experts in the criminal justice system, tasked with “identifying the reasons for the woeful decline in successful enforcement” and developing recommendations to “increase the number of criminals caught and brought to justice”.

The commission will be chaired by former victims’ commissioner Vera Baird and will support Labour’s work to “reverse the collapse” in the proportion of crime solved, one of the pledges set out in the party’s crime mission, announced earlier this year.

Yvette Cooper said the new commission would help Labour “deliver on our pledge to make Britain safer”, condemning the Tories’ record on law and order as “one of damaging decline and collapsing confidence in the criminal justice system”.

The Shadow Home Secretary said: “Labour will turn things around, reversing the collapse in the proportion of crimes charged, rebuilding public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system and restoring the rule of law on Britain’s streets.

“We will work in partnership with hard-working police officers and prosecutors to tackle problems and bring criminals to justice. It should be unthinkable for so many more crimes to face no consequences whatsoever, but that is the shameful reality after 13 Conservative years.”

Baird said: “The woeful collapse in charging rates has exposed victims of crime to intolerable anguish and uncertainty, and we are now seeing record numbers of victims giving up on the criminal justice system altogether.

“Investigations and prosecutions for serious crimes like rape are in a dismal state, the criminal justice system is in chaos, and things simply cannot stay as they are.

“This commission will bring together voices from across policing and prosecutions to forensically investigate the causes of this charging crisis and set out robust recommendations for recovery.”

Baird will be joined on the commission by former chief constable and HM Inspector of Constabulary for the Metropolitan Police Stephen Otter, former chief crown prosecutor and HM Inspector of Constabulary Drusilla Sharpling and West Yorkshire deputy mayor for policing and crime Alison Lowe.

Labour said the commission will develop recommendations for improvement across the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), including on improving support for victims, increasing the quality and speed of police response and investigations and boosting digital forensics and other technological capabilities across police forces.

The party said the taskforce would also devise reforms intended to increase cooperation in joint-working arrangements between the police and the CPS and to improve the quality and speed of charging advice and decisions to prevent delays.

Emily Thornberry said: “Too often in recent years, we have seen debates around the fall in charge rates descend into a blame game between the police and the CPS, rather than both organisations trying to work effectively together.”

The Shadow Attorney General added: “This new commission will help a future Labour government develop the solutions and deliver the better outcomes that we all want to see and which the public have a right to expect.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Since 2010, our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crime including burglary, robbery and theft down 51% and serious violent crime down 46%.

“The government has also delivered more police officers than ever before in England and Wales, and the Home Secretary has been clear she expects the police to improve public confidence by getting the basics right – catching more criminals and delivering justice for victims.

“We are determined to bring all offenders to justice. The responsibility for this is shared across the criminal justice system, and the system needs to work better together – including the current levels of cases being investigated and converted into charges and subsequent prosecutions.”