Many residents tell me that anti-social behaviour and street crime are significant concerns among Burton and Uttoxeter residents.

Alcohol-fueled offences not only make residents feel that our town centres are no-go areas after dark, they cost taxpayers significant sums in policing and hospital care.

To make Burton and Uttoxeter a safer place to live, Conservatives have pledged:

• We will overhaul the Licensing Act to give local authorities and the police much stronger powers over licensing, including the ability to remove licences from, or refuse to grant licences to, any premises which are causing problems.
• We will allow councils to shut down permanently any shop or bar found selling alcohol to children, and double the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000.
• We will change the rules so that anyone acting reasonably to stop a crime or apprehend a criminal is not arrested or prosecuted and we will give householders greater protection if they have to defend themselves against intruders in their homes.
• We will oblige the police to publish detailed local crime data statistics every month, in an open and standardised format, and ensure police teams have regular neighbourhood beat meetings so that people can use this crime data to hold the police to account.
• We will make it clear that anyone caught carrying a knife can expect to be prosecuted and face a prison sentence.
• We will extend the length of custodial sentence that can be awarded in a Magistrates' Court from six to twelve months.