Starmer promises plans to cut violent crime and increase trust in policing

Labour leader Keir Starmer during a press conference at the Labour party headquarters in central London following the release of Baroness Louise Casey’s review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Sir Keir Starmer will promise to halve levels of violence against women and girls within a decade if Labour takes office.

He will also pledge to halve serious violent crime and raise confidence in the police and criminal justice system in the wake of the damning report by Baroness Casey into Scotland Yard.

The Labour leader will claim Rishi Sunak’s Tories are “out of touch” and too detached with the reality of life in some of the country’s most deprived communities.

In a speech setting out his priorities, former director of public prosecutions Sir Keir will set out the need for police reform and a “proper victims’ law”.

“You can’t defeat misogyny without robust policing, but you can’t have robust policing without defeating misogyny,” he will say.

“We’ll put specialist domestic abuse workers in the control rooms of every police force, responding to 999 calls, supporting victims of abuse. We’ll get a specialist rape unit in every police force.

“And we’ll also set up dedicated rape courts – the current prosecution rates are a disgrace.”

Casey review publication — Labour leader Keir Starmer will set out his plans on law and order (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

He will say that it is “always working people who pay the heaviest price” for crime, with working class communities too often “living under its shadow”.

Sir Keir will tell an audience in Stoke that “this is personal” as it is the “unfinished business in my life’s work”.

“As somebody who has worked in criminal justice for most of my life, I also know that far too often, the inequalities that still scar our society, class, race, gender, find an expression in the very system that is supposed to protect us all, without discrimination,” he will say.

Labour’s plan would “tackle the crime wave gnawing away at our collective sense of security”.

In an attack on the Tories, Sir Keir will claim they “can’t see the Britain they’ve created”.

“Their kids don’t go to the same schools. Nobody fly-tips on their streets. The threat of violence doesn’t stalk their communities. They don’t see the problems, and so they’re complacent about the need for solutions, out of touch with the realities of modern Britain.

“They should try and walk in your shoes for a day or two.”