The Tories cannot level-up the country without tackling crime as poorer communities are being hit hardest, Shadow Policing Minister Sarah Jones has warned.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, the Labour frontbencher tore into Home Secretary Priti Patel for ripping the "the heart out of policing" as damning new stats showed police solved just over 5% of burglaries last year and anti-social behaviour runs riot.
It comes as Communities Secretary Michael Gove prepares to publish the Government's Levelling Up White Paper, which is designed to improve people's lives and life chances in Red Wall communities and beyond.
But Ms Jones said: "You can't level up without cutting crime.
"You're seven times more likely to be a victim of homicide if you live in the poorest 10% of the community than if you live in the richest 10% and you are five times more likely to be admitted to hospital with a knife offence, and in terms of antisocial behaviour, it's often so ignored by this Government.
"They see anti-social behaviour as low level crime, and a catch-all term for a lot of different things. And what you'll see is more deprived areas suffering more in terms of street crime, violent crime and different types of crime.
"There's a definite inequality. And if this government is serious about tackling levelling up, they need to tackle crime."
It came as official data showed anti-social behaviour was at its highest level in seven years and that cops cracked just over 5% of burglaries last year compared with nearly 9.4% in 2015.
The mother-of-four also disclosed how being targeted by criminals in the past herself left her and her family feeling "vulnerable" and "scared".
