I have seen on social media over the past weeks that antisocial behaviour in Fleetwood has been a huge concern to residents.

Firstly, we need to recognise why we have this difficult situation. Fleetwood, like many working class, coastal, and deprived towns, has felt forgotten and left behind for generations. The impact of intense cuts to police, youth, education, mental health, Sure Start centres, charity and council budgets over the past 13 years has had a profound impact on the problem and life expectancy is falling, resulting in the crisis we now have.

Since 2010 Lancashire has lost over 800 officers, with the force being asked to make over £100m in “savings”. By comparison, over the same period, Surrey lost just 8 officers. Although in the first round of new officer allocations Lancashire was granted 153, Surrey gained 70!

As you would imagine, I have been vocal in challenging these cuts to the safety of our streets and the impact on antisocial behaviour.

According to the Ministry of Justice figures, there’s been a 90% drop in community sentences being handed out between 2010 and 2021. More than 1.1 million incidents of anti-social behaviour were recorded by the police last year – or 3,000 a day. Home Office figures show that overall the charge rate for crimes has plummeted since 2015, falling from 15.5% to 6.5%. Officers don’t even have the capacity to attend burglaries, and victims are left spending 20 minutes or more on the phone trying to report a crime to 101.

I have taken the Government to task on their police funding formula for any new money, and despite the Government admitting to me that the formula is unfair they have refused to change it, so once again Lancashire – and Fleetwood – lose out. I have also fought to keep Fleetwood magistrates court open to make sure residents have swift access to justice.

Victims of antisocial behaviour also have very few rights in comparison to victims of other crimes. Despite some avenues such as community triggers and Community Protection Notices, it is nearly always left to the victim to log, record and monitor the persistent abuse, violence, and antagonism towards them. They also have to look to purchase personal CCTV systems just to deter crime on their doorstep. This needs to change, and I firmly believe that Keir Starmer’s experience as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) gives the surest sign that victims and communities will get the protection they desperately need.

In 2021 I called then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak out for his £400m stealth cut to youth services, in my role as Shadow Minister for Young People. There has been a 73% cut in youth services in the last 11 years; 940 youth centres have closed, and 13,000 qualified and community youth workers are no longer working in the sector. The National Youth Agency (NYA) estimates there’s around £1bn less per year being spent on youth work than there was a decade ago. These services provide hope, purpose, direction, activities, education, and a moral social support network for young people that is often otherwise absent, and prevents them falling into criminality. To my mind this is a dereliction of the Government’s duty to look after our young people.

I want to see more police, more youth services, stronger sentences and better victim protections to properly deal with antisocial behaviour in towns like Fleetwood.

I frustratingly don’t operate any of the local levers of power to make this meaningful change that is needed. We have a Conservative government, a Conservative Wyre Council, Conservative Lancashire County Council, and a Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner. They control and influence how Fleetwood gets its resources which is often watered down in favour of the other areas they represent, and in order to reverse the devastation of the past decade of austerity we need a government and councils who will invest in Fleetwood, not consistently deny it any support.

I regularly speak with Lancashire Police representatives who are doing all they can with stretched resources. I spoke with them last week about antisocial behaviour in Fleetwood, and I know their priorities have been split on this by also having to tackle a spike in organised and violent crime – and of course Fleetwood police station has also had its holding cell capacity removed. Despite the challenges, I have recognised their efforts in Parliament in a recent Crime and Neighbourhood Policing debate on 31^st January. I continue to call for more fair funding and more officers, but no funding change is forthcoming from the Government, and the local Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner seems a little more focussed on using taxpayer precept funds to re-open front counter stations in his home town of Rossendale, plus in areas such as Ribble Valley, Fylde and South Ribble.

Wyre Council can only impose so many Community Protection Notices with extremely high victim reporting and legal thresholds, on yet again, stretched budgets. And naturally, I have consistently fought and stood on manifestos against the awful cuts to local authority budgets over the past decade.

My primary role as a Parliamentarian is to press the Government of the day to make better laws, stand up for and fairly fund the places I am privileged to represent. In this regard, despite the political differences, I have supported the Conservative-led Wyre Council’s efforts to bid for Levelling Up, Future High Streets and Towns funding – all of which were rejected by the Government, and I have made my disappointment very clear. All this is despite places like Rishi Sunak’s own constituency receiving £19m.

In his first unsuccessful bid to become Prime Minister before Liz Truss won the internal Conservative Party election, you may have seen the video of Rishi Sunak boasting about undoing the funding formulas and previous Labour Government’s work to put money into urban and deprived towns like Fleetwood. I was surprised that the Prime Minister would be so brazen in his confession, but sadly not surprised by his actions. The result of his policy is clear for all to see.

But, as part of my priority to help increase the economic and job prospects for Fleetwood, I’m really proud of my successful campaign to bring back the Fleetwood rail link to Poulton, which the Department for Transport have now agreed to fund – though the County Council work on making this a reality is slow and steady.

As a party, Labour have pledged in Government to make our streets safe, with crime and antisocial behaviour falling because the root causes of the problems that communities face are being tackled and criminals are being brought to justice.

This means:

• A Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee of 13,000 more officers
• Policing hubs in every town
• New Respect Orders
• New Parenting Orders
• New Fixed Penalty Cleaning Notices
• New criminal offences allowing police to arrest persistent troublemakers and let courts to take speedy enforcement action
• New prevention teams linked up to drug and alcohol treatment, CCTV and safety measures
• New youth mentors working with young people to stop them getting drawn into gangs

However, in the meantime we have to make do with piecemeal offerings, such as the Police and Crime Commissioner’s £600k fund to tackle anti-social behaviour across the county. With this in mind, I have written to both Wyre Council to bid and lend my support to any of their bids for Fighting Crime Grants, and to Fleetwood Town Council to support any of their Community Fund applications.

Antisocial behaviour makes people’s lives a misery, and I’m committed to making our communities safe once again and undoing the catastrophe caused by 13 years of Conservative failure.

Being a Member of Parliament and representing Fleetwood is a privilege, and whilst it is my duty to tackle the underlying issues and challenges it faces, the town also needs people to beat the drum and promote such an outward-looking and proud place, and it’s also my mission to proudly support our local and rural businesses. I am delighted to champion the great work in the town, and promoting positive Fleetwood businesses to potential visitors to encourage investment, whilst celebrating local people trying to be successful in such a tough economic environment and cost of living crisis.

We need to tackle antisocial behaviour at its core, get through to young people through early intervention and be much more proactive in stamping out and taking a zero-tolerance approach to local crime.

But, we must not forget that there is so much to celebrate about the town, and whether that’s the Town Council’s Fleetwood In Bloom, Remembrance Sunday Parades, Fleetwood Festive Lights, local award-winning charities like Fleetwood Beach Wheelchairs, or events like Tram Sunday and the RNLI Fleetwood Lifeboat Day, I would always recommend being a part of the community in person and getting involved in the positive things we want to see more of in Fleetwood.