What Is The Difference Between The Tory And Labour Approach To Tackling Crime?

           The key difference between the Tory and Labour approach to tackling crime is that Tony Blair's government supports solving the causes of crime by public, state spending on social welfare programs, while David Cameron's Conservatives prefer helping private, community-based ventures address these concerns. Both Cameron and Blair recently wrote about the apparent rise in crime in Britain on the op-ed pages of the Daily Telegraph.

           At the very core of this debate is the left-right divide between those who support big government and the welfare state and those  on the political right who prefer small government, lower taxes and public-private partnerships (PPP).

           Yet crime is an important issue for any politician and Tony Blair campaigned on this in 1992. At the time, Blair's message was that he would "get tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime." Addressing issues of poverty and discrimination is widely seen on the left as a way to tackle the social ills that lead to crime.

           For Cameron, the Telegraph debate served as a way to prove his Conservative credentials to those who feel that he has moved the party too far to the left.