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Policing in London

That is true. Teenage lads and girls on their way home are particularly vulnerable, yet the media highlight only the few. It should be borne in mind that the majority of youngsters are good and well behaved; it is the minority who are causing the trouble—the fear, the antisocial behaviour, the drunkenness and the bingeing. Some girls want to go to pop concerts, and it is great that they do. Others may want to go and hear serious music or visit the theatre. However, they do not like to come home on the train after 11 pm because of their fear of crime. There is fear on buses too, among drivers as well as passengers. Those based at Bexleyheath bus garage have experienced intimidation and aggression. It may be crime at a lower level, but it is serious nevertheless. Do people want to be on a bus at that time of night? They should think of the bus driver. All those problems must be dealt with. We want more people to use public transport, but it must be safe or they will not use it. There is a local policing matter which, I know, concerns my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) as well. Many of my constituents travel through the Blackwall tunnel during the morning rush hour. Recently the contraflow was closed by TfL and the police, who were concerned about safety in the tunnel. Unfortunately, their action was not properly thought through. People who drive so badly that they could cause a serious incident in the Blackwall tunnel should be punished severely, rather than the contraflow being closed. The closure has had consequences for people getting to work, and for traffic throughput during the rush hour. Apart from anything else, such actions make the police unpopular. In general they have become very popular because they are giving the public what they want, but in my area there is continuing concern about transport—not just about the safety of the travelling public, but about such matters as TfL’s closure of the Blackwall tunnel contraflow without any serious consideration or consultation with those involved. That is not good news if we want the public and the police to go on working together. Graffiti and vandalism have increased dramatically on Bexleyheath broadway, as has bad behaviour, which is why there are more members of the community safety team in that area. I pay tribute to those who are working so hard in Bexleyheath to overcome the problems of binge drinking, antisocial behaviour and vandalism, and also to Bexley borough council, which has made a big effort to get rid of graffiti more quickly. I know that a number of other Members want to speak, so I shall bring my few remarks to a conclusion. There has been progress, but there is much more to do. Conservative Members are concerned about how we make sure that quality of life issues are dealt with effectively. That difficult issue involves education, councils, communities and national Government—it involves all of us. It is important to get across the point that if people think that their quality of life is threatened by what might indeed be lower levels of crime, they will react and become more fearful, and the result will be that they lead less happy lives. We are involved in this for people—not statistics. Over the years, the Minister and I have bandied about statistics on many issues, and I have a lot of time for him, but some Government statistics are manipulated. We must think about people because people matter, and we must make sure that their quality of life is improved. That is what we want to do, and that is why this debate has been of such high quality. We do not want to be party political. We are trying to improve our city, London, and that means us working together. There have been great speeches so far, but we need more action on the quality of life issues.