Britain’s cost-of-living crisis will spark a “crime spree” with parents “stealing to feed their children”, a police boss warns today.
Labour ’s Tom McNeil claimed the government's “failure to support people” will spark car thefts as people “choose crime to keep up the rent”.
The Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands said there is “no excuse for crime” - but it is “common sense” that poverty is one reason people do the wrong thing.
It came as Boris Johnson admitted families face a choice between heating and eating.
Asked if families should buy cheaper food, keep clothes for longer or turn the heating off, the Prime Minister replied: “People obviously are going to face choices that they are going to have to make.”
The Tory leader - who spent more than £100,000 renovating his flat - added: “We in the Government will do everything that we can to help.”
But he said “I’ve got absolutely no problem with” his National Insurance hike to fund the NHS and care, saying: “We’ve got to do the difficult things.”
The tax rise from 12% to 13.25% on millions of workers kicked in today - while inflation soars and energy bills rocket by £693 a year.
A rise in repayment thresholds will cancel out the NI hike for poorer workers, but only from July.
The PM said: “We've got to be frank with people, there's a limit to the amount of taxpayers' money we can simply push towards trying to deal with global energy price spikes.”
But Mr McNeil wrote for the Mirror: “Desperation leads people to do desperate things.
“Working in the world of policing and criminal justice, I can confidently say to you, we are going to see a crime spree as a result of this price hike bonanza.”
He added: “It’s hard not to think that government ministers just simply do not understand what being poor means.
“Their failure to support people is going to see a rise in parents stealing to feed their children.
“Further increases in car theft with people choosing crime to keep up the rent payments. Vulnerable people exploited into sex work.
“Children manipulated into selling drugs by hardened criminals because they want to help their mum pay to heat the house, feed their brothers and sisters and keep the loan sharks at bay.
“Once caught in drug gangs, who knows where it will end up for some of these children – it’s a tragedy, one we’ve seen already, too many times.”
The former charity lawyer was appointed last summer as an assistant to newly-elected Labour Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster.
It came as Rishi Sunak ’s personal poll ratings plummeted by 24 points in two weeks since the Spring Statement, which announced £11bn in tax cuts but no new rise in benefits.
YouGov put the Tory Chancellor’s net favourability score at minus 29, his lowest ever, after a separate survey showed Tory activists also losing faith in him.
Labour activists dressed up as the Chancellor outside the Treasury today to highlight 15 tax rises as Keir Starmer branded the NI hike the "wrong tax at the wrong time".
They include rises in corporation tax, council tax, National Insurance and ‘stealth tax’ freezes in the income tax and student loan payment threshold.
'Cost of living crisis will cause crime spree'
By TOM McNEIL, Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands
There is no excuse for crime, and people need to be held to account for their offences. But it’s simply a matter of common sense to see that there are certain explanations for why some people do the wrong thing. Everybody knows, one of those causes, is poverty.
I grew up in a low income home, and the stress and constant worry about the future weighs heavy on the mind – it can feel degrading. However, with the support of free school meals and the welfare safety net when things got really bad, we made it through okay. I’ve been lucky enough to get the support I need to be able to use education and employment to carve a decent life out for myself. Sadly, the government’s recklessness around the emerging cost of living crisis will mean things are a lot harder for millions of people. We worried about paying the bills, having enough food, debt, but never did we have to experience what the public are about to go through.
Households are set to be £2,620 worse off, and that will include many families who were struggling to hold it together already, despite working their socks off. Tory tax rises, wage stagnation, rising energy, travel and food prices, to name just a few, are going to create a wave of profound poverty and deep desperation. ‘Desperation’, leads people to do desperate things. Working in the world of policing and criminal justice, I can confidently say to you, we are going to see a crime spree as a result of this price hike bonanza. This is unless the government gets serious about helping people in a meaningful way out of this crisis, other than a pathetic fuel duty cut to be swallowed up by further rising prices.
It’s hard not to think that government ministers just simply do not understand what being poor means. The truth is, their failure to support people is going to see a rise in parents stealing to feed their children. Further increases in car theft with people choosing crime to keep up the rent payments. Vulnerable people exploited into sex work. Children manipulated into selling drugs by hardened criminals because they want to help their mum pay to heat the house, feed their brothers and sisters and keep the loan sharks at bay. Once caught in drug gangs, who knows where it will end up for some of these children – it’s a tragedy, one we’ve seen already, too many times. Others, in their desperation, will turn to drink and drugs because their impending eviction or visit from the bailiffs is too much to bear and their neighbours will see rises in antisocial behavior as a consequence.
In my work for the elected West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, I’ve already seen huge rises in crime as a result of extremely shortsighted government decisions that have cut youth services, school budgets and other prevention services like drug treatment. I’m now calling on the government to wake up and smell the coffee – your failure to tackle the cost of living crisis will cause a crime spree, and it is totally avoidable. Act now, keep the people safe, and help working families across the country live in dignity.
