Rishi Sunak needs to move beyond shallow, headline-grabbing gimmicks

Editorial: Many of the proposed solutions to antisocial behaviour are ineffective, and each new ‘crackdown’ comes with a panoply of new offences

The PM needs to move beyond the soundbites (Alamy)

Every now and again, politicians rediscover what normal people really care about, which turns out to be – in addition to the obvious issues of the cost of living and the state of the health service – “antisocial behaviour”.

Sir Keir Starmer is performing a public service, therefore, in his recent emphasis on crime, and on “low-level” crime in particular. He was doing his job as leader of the opposition in exposing a gap in the prime minister’s “five promises”, which did not include law and order.

At one level, Rishi Sunak’s omission is understandable. It is true, as he said in the House of Commons on Wednesday, that crime has halved since David Cameron came to office 13 years ago – a long-term trend that ran through the previous 13 years of Labour government as well. This is one of those little-noticed – indeed scarcely believed – changes for the better in our national life for which we ought to be more grateful than we are.