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Today ePolitix.com and our stakeholders examine the political parties' plans for justice and home affairs.
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The three main parties' election manifesto promises on justice and home affairs are as follows:
LABOUR:
* Legislate to give people financial support to pursue legal injunctions against people who behave anti-socially, with the costs met by the agency that let them down.
* Provide the funding to maintain police and PCSO numbers.
* No-nonsense action to tackle the problems caused by 50,000 dysfunctional families.
* Expand 'Community Payback' for criminals who don't go to prison.
* Control immigration through an Australian-style points-based system.
CONSERVATIVES:
* Set an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK and apply transitional controls for all new EU Member States.
* Carry out a fundamental review of legal aid to make it work more efficiently.
* Reduce the bureaucratic burden on police.
* Introduce directly-elected police commissioners who will set the budget and the strategy for local police forces.
* Allow courts to specify minimum and maximum sentences for certain offenders.
* Pay private and voluntary sector organisations to rehabilitate prisoners with fees determined according to results.
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS:
* Introduce directly-elected police authorities with the right to hire and fire chief constables and determine budgets.
* Make the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs completely independent of Government.
* Make prisoners work and contribute from their prison wages to a compensation fund for victims.
* Introduce a presumption against short-term sentences of less than six months – replaced by rigorously enforced community sentences - and cancel the prison building programme.
* Create a National Border Force with police powers.
* Introduce a regional points-based immigration system.
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