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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 26 September 2008

Claudia Webbe: ‘Enough is enough’

‘Stop blaming the parents, and start protecting young people’

ANTI-gun crime campaigner Claudia Webbe has told the Labour Party conference in Manchester that the government must take responsibility for rising youth violence.
Speaking to 2,000 delegates, Ms Webbe, who is chairwoman of Operation Trident campaign to cut gun crime in London, warned Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to stop blaming parents “for the ills in society”.
The Islington South and Finsbury Labour Party delegate told the conference: “It is about time we said enough is enough, protect our children and young people and stop blaming parents for all the ills of society.
“Our children are not bad or mad. They are after all the products of a British education system – we have a responsibility not to demonise and label children and young people.”
Ms Webbe, who lives in Bunhill, said an international network of violence – spanning computer games, television, internet and the media – had taken root in the minds of teenagers.
“This is not about broken families or a broken society. This is about a society which simply for far too long has failed to recognise and own up to its own responsibility and for far too many young people appears not to care,” she added.
Ms Webbe called for a more sophisticated approach to preventing knife and gun crime, starting with breaking the link between guns and the drugs market.
She said: “The real solutions are based on tackling the fundamental economic, social and political inequalities that have led to a poverty of aspiration and ambition and for too many young people and families a lack of opportunities ahead.”
Ms Smith outlined new safety measures and tougher penalties for law breakers.
She announced that community groups in Islington will benefit from a share of a £3.8million London-wide fund to give young people “somewhere to go and something to do”.
Ms Smith also launched a £5million fund to recruit an army of 3,600 community crimefighters – one for each neighbourhood policing team.
She added: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with the families who turn the tragedy of violent crime into positive action – like the thousands who joined the Peace March in London.
”By changing the law and supporting the police with search arches and wands, we’re sending a clear message about the consequences of carrying a knife.
“You are more likely to get caught and when you’re caught you’re more likely to be prosecuted. And if found guilty, more likely to go to prison.”

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