logo
MP backs summer crime crackdown in Rhyl and Colwyn Bay

MP backs summer crime crackdown in Rhyl and Colwyn Bay

Rhyl Journal21-07-2025
The Safer Streets summer scheme aims to target anti-social behaviour in Clwyd North and is part of the Labour Government's broader 'Plan for Change'.
The plan includes the recruitment of 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs across the UK, supported by an initial sum of £200 million.
Gill German, Labour MP for Clwyd North, said: "People in Clwyd North deserve to feel safe and confident in their local high streets – whether they're shopping, working, or spending time with family and friends.
"I've spoken to residents and business owners across Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, and our other town centres, and they've made it clear that tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority."
The scheme, backed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, includes Colwyn Bay and Rhyl among more than 500 towns taking part.
Residents should expect to see a "stronger, more visible police presence, along with targeted action to clamp down on anti-social behaviour."
The initiative is being delivered in partnership with police and crime commissioners, councils, businesses, and community leaders.
In North Wales, Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin has worked with partners to develop plans focused on both prevention and enforcement.
These include banning persistent offenders from town centres and increasing support for community-led safety schemes.
Since the scheme launched on June 30, North Wales Police have increased foot patrols.
Officers have engaged with the public through events such as Cuppa with a Copper and carried out enforcement activity.
During the first week, officers made arrests and executed warrants resulting in seizures of Class A drugs, cash, mobile phones, and drug paraphernalia.
The crackdown is set to run until September 30.
Ms German said she has seen first-hand the value of visible, community-focused policing.
She said: "Last week, I was pleased to join Inspector Matthew Kelly-Smith for a walkabout in Colwyn Bay town centre, where we discussed the benefits of an increased police presence and the importance of visible, community-focused policing.
"I also spent time with Police Community Support Officers on their regular patrol in Rhyl West, hearing directly from them about the challenges they face and the positive impact their presence can have in reassuring the public and preventing crime.
"That's why I welcome this summer crackdown – with more officers on the beat, real action to tackle anti-social behaviour, and support for our young people.
"I'll keep working closely with North Wales Police and local partners to make sure Clwyd North gets the support it needs to build safer, stronger, and more vibrant communities.
"I'm really pleased to see this government prioritising neighbourhood safety through proper investment in local policing.
"There's still a way to go, but we're making meaningful progress together."
The government is also launching a new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy.
This aims to use shared intelligence to protect shops and workers from organised, repeat, and opportunistic offenders.
Ms Cooper said the crackdown sends a clear message to offenders.
She said: "I have called on police forces and councils to work together to deliver a summer blitz on town centre crime, to send a clear message to those people who bring misery to our towns that their crimes will no longer go unpunished.
"The fact that Rhyl and Colwyn Bay have signed up shows the strength of feeling locally on this issue.
"Through our Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change, we are putting officers back on the beat where you can see them and making our town centres safe again."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

An effigy of refugees, burned by a crowd: this is where Europe's brutal fantasy of border control has led us
An effigy of refugees, burned by a crowd: this is where Europe's brutal fantasy of border control has led us

The Guardian

time21 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

An effigy of refugees, burned by a crowd: this is where Europe's brutal fantasy of border control has led us

The burning of an effigy of refugees on a boat to the cheers of a riled-up crowd in Moygashel, Northern Ireland shows where we are today. A decade has passed since Europe's border crisis in 2015 and the shock caused by the image of Alan Kurdi, whose little body was found washed up on a Turkish beach. Sentiments of welcome and solidarity were short lived and have given way to a seemingly never-ending obsession in Europe with 'stopping the boats' and reducing the number of migrant arrivals. In the decade since Angela Merkel's 'we can do it', we have become used to hearing that 2015 must not be allowed to happen again. Across Europe, politicians routinely vow to fight migration, 'smash' smuggling gangs, ramp up border controls and build up detention and deportation capacities. A much-criticised migration pact was agreed upon while the annual budget of Frontex, the EU border agency, has seen a staggering increase, from €97.9m in 2014 to €922m in 2024. Entire border zones have become militarised and the guarding of borders has been 'externalised' so that non-EU countries can prevent migration on Europe's behalf. In this past decade, we have also become desensitised to the inevitable consequences of such repressive policies in terms of human suffering and loss. Reports and images of people forced into Libyan torture and rape sites, described by German diplomats as 'concentration camp-like' in 2017, no longer prompt a public outcry. Neither do the deaths of thousands in the Mediterranean every year or the criminalisation of activists who seek to avert mass drowning. Shipwrecks have become so common that they hardly make it into the news. What does make the news, however, is the discourse on migration that characterises it as an emergency. Often dominating headlines, it has become a permanent feature, a sort of enduring state of exception that far-right forces capitalise on. Instead of offering alternative visions of migration, parties of the so-called 'centre' or 'mainstream' amplify such crisis talk, catering to simplistic control fantasies and offering one solution only: more borders. Whether it's the Christian Democrats or the Social Democrats in Germany, Labour in the UK or Emmanuel Macron's government in France, mainstream parties seek to outdo parties to the right of them by pushing increasingly extreme and racist narratives, at times dangerously close to invasion and 'great replacement' conspiracies. In January, the French prime minister, François Bayrou, spoke of a 'feeling of submersion' in view of the migrant presence in France. In May, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, suggested that the UK was at risk of turning into an 'island of strangers'. In June, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, claimed on Fox News that the past decade's migration to Germany had led to 'imported' antisemitism, so that fighting antisemitism meant fighting migration. Promising to solve societal problems through repressive migration policies and more borders, these 'centrist' or even 'progressive' political leaders are selling a dangerous fantasy. In a world riven by war, genocide, economic disparity, a climate catastrophe and growing authoritarianism, borders will never succeed in averting people's desire and need to migrate or flee. Indeed, the fantasy of borders is met, time and again, by reality: ongoing migration. Distracting from the inability to address any of the structural issues underpinning migration and displacement, and in ever-greater desperation, we are being served 'border spectacles' – performative but nonetheless violent and racist acts of exclusion, demarcating those who supposedly belong and those who do not. In the long shadow of the 'crisis' of 2015, we see intersecting developments across Europe that should worry us. First, a shift to the far right and growing authoritarianism. In Germany, the extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has comfortably established itself as the largest opposition party, at times leading in the polls, as do the Reform UK and National Rally parties in the UK and France respectively. Supposedly mainstream political parties have not only failed to stop the rise of the far right, they have contributed to mainstreaming their rhetoric and authoritarian policies. More than that, by intensifying migration cooperation with repressive regimes outside Europe, they have contributed to the rise of authoritarianism elsewhere. Tunisia serves as one of many examples where Europe's financial and political support has strengthened the security apparatus of its authoritarian leader, Kais Saied, who himself has spewed great replacement theories on migration. Second, a shift away from the idea of a 'post-national' community. The constant promise that borders will solve migration has reinforced the illusion that renationalisation is the answer. The departure of the UK from the EU, whose disastrous 'taking back of control' in fact prompted an increase in migration post-Brexit, may be the most obvious example. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion However, throughout the EU, we see an increase in 'borderisation' – the erection of barriers and border controls between member states – as a way to supposedly reclaim 'lost' sovereignty. The very core of the European project – internal freedom of movement – is at risk and points to a growing estrangement from the idea of Europe as a post-national community. Third, an assault on legal norms and institutions. The normalisation of anti-migration violence, including through mass pushbacks, has led to a clear erosion of human rights. Indeed, some EU member states have legalised human rights violations at borders while Greece decided to temporarily suspend asylum altogether this July. International institutions meant to protect refugees, including the UN refugee agency, have been under assault while we see a concerted hollowing out of international rights standards and the gradual death of asylum. Even if the European obsession with borders fails to do what is desired – effective deterrence – it has real and dangerous consequences, for those seeking refuge and for us all. The burning of an effigy of refugees is what happens after a decade of dehumanisation. In the intervening years, many – from the supposed centre to the far right – have implanted a dangerous border fantasy that will continue to divide, hurt and kill. Dr Maurice Stierl is a migration and border researcher at the University of Osnabrück, Germany

Victorian approach to welfare shames Labour
Victorian approach to welfare shames Labour

The National

time29 minutes ago

  • The National

Victorian approach to welfare shames Labour

With more than seven million low-income families still going without essentials, the JRF's cost of living tracker shines the spotlight on just how acute this situation is for low-income families with three or more children, with almost nine in 10 going without the essentials, and the highest number of families in arrears or holding a loan for essentials since their tracking began. This is a terrible indictment of Keir Starmer's government – no progress, no change, the very opposite of what Labour promised. Indeed, what strikes me most is just how little has changed since they came into power – the SNP are still pushing the UK Government to scrap the two-child cap and implement a similar benefit to our transformational Scottish Child Payment; Westminster is still digging its heels in. READ MORE: Keir Starmer commits to recognising Palestinian state after intense pressure My former colleague Alison Thewliss was dogged in challenging the Tory government on the two-child cap; yet here we are under Labour, and the asks remain the same while the situation is getting worse. The JRF says their modelling does not include impacts of cuts to health-related elements of Universal Credit for future claimants currently working its way through parliament. Damning reports like this should focus minds ahead of the delayed publication of the Child Poverty Strategy, with its recommendation to get rid of the two-child cap and strengthen the foundations of the social settlement. But is the Government listening, are they reading these reports, are they paying attention to best practice elsewhere, i.e. in Scotland? (Image: PA) On paper Labour say they are – for instance, the secretaries of state for work and pensions, and for education, say in their foreword to the introduction ahead of this new strategy that there is a lot they can learn from action already taken in Scotland. But in the chamber, it's a whole other ball game. Not a week goes by that I don't think of that phrase 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' while I'm sitting in the House of Commons listening to what seems to be a coordinated strategy by Labour to attack the Scottish Government in Holyrood at every available opportunity even when the focus is very much on their own failures at [[Westminster]]. That's politics I hear you say, but it's more than that. In fact, I'd go as far to say it's like a kind of 'blame shifting' to use psychological terminology. A perfect example comes from just a couple of weeks ago, when the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray MP, was answering questions in the chamber on the Government's Spending Review. My colleague, MP Stephen Gethins, challenged Murray on his party's failure to scrap the two-child cap only to be met with a defensive volley on the number of children that are homeless in Scotland. A little rudimentary digging on Shelter England's website and you can see that of course Murray failed to highlight that in England, there are 164,040 children living in temporary accommodation with their families, which is the highest number on record and represents a 15% increase in the last year alone. Additionally, there are 126,040 households in England experiencing homelessness in temporary accommodation, another record high and a 16% increase in 12 months. This is hardly a record to be proud of, and not a position of strength from which to point the finger at other governments. Fortunately, a decent amount of finger pointing has already been done by Labour's own MPs, with their welfare cuts described as 'Dickensian'. Those MPs have been punished subsequently, more blame shifting rather than addressing the key problem which is Labour's terrible policy decisions. And only one of them was a Scottish Labour MP, while the others continue to bow and scrape to Number 10. Even the UN has waded in to highlight how Labour's welfare cuts could threaten the human rights of disabled people. And this from a government led by a former human rights lawyer. It reminded me of the UN's comments on the Tory government's welfare policies, with the special rapporteur on extreme poverty describing 'workhouse' conditions and the 'systematic immiseration' of the British population thanks to austerity. Red or blue, it's the same old same old. Collaborating with Scotland on best practice on social security – not just with our Scottish Child Payment but with our efforts to reinstate the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners before Labour's major U-turn, and now our upcoming mitigation of the two-child cap – would change the narrative on Labour's Victorian approach to welfare. This would signal a more grown-up approach to politics than the current tribal mudslinging variety that Labour favours. Don't hold your breath. So, every time you hear a Labour MP, particularly the Scottish ones, have a poke at Scotland and the SNP Government at Holyrood, remember this coordinated blame shift. Because behind every snide and spurious comment about Scotland lies a truth that Labour can't deny – they're failing to make any progress, and fast. All the more reason for Scotland to be rid of Westminster for good.

How is Starmer's government doing? Here's what 'end-of-term' report from voters says
How is Starmer's government doing? Here's what 'end-of-term' report from voters says

Sky News

timean hour ago

  • Sky News

How is Starmer's government doing? Here's what 'end-of-term' report from voters says

One year on, how's Keir Starmer's government going? We've put together an end-of-term report with the help of pollster YouGov. First, here are the government's approval ratings - drifting downwards. It didn't start particularly high. There has never been a honeymoon. But here is the big change. Last year's Labour voters now disapprove of their own government. That wasn't true at the start - but is now. And remember, it's easier to keep your existing voter coalition together than to get new ones from elsewhere. So we have looked at where voters who backed Labour last year have gone now. YouGov's last mega poll shows half of Labour voters last year - 51% - say they would vote for them again if an election was held tomorrow. Around one in five (19%) say they don't know who they'd vote for - or wouldn't vote. But Labour are also leaking votes to the Lib Dems, Greens and Reform. These are the main reasons why. A sense that Labour haven't delivered on their promises is top - just above the cost of living. Some 22% say they've been too right-wing, with a similar number saying Labour have "made no difference". Immigration and public services are also up there. Now, YouGov asked people whether they think the cabinet is doing a good or a bad job, and combined the two figures together to get a net score. John Healey and Bridget Phillipson are on top, but the big beats of Angela Rayner, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bottom. But it's not over for Labour. Here's one scenario - 2024 Labour voters say they would much prefer a Labour-led government over a Conservative one. But what about a Reform UK-led government? Well, Labour polls even better against them - just 11% of people who voted Labour in 2024 want to see them enter Number 10. Signs of hope for Keir Starmer. But as Labour MPs head off for their summer holidays, few of their voters would give this government an A*.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store