Kemi Badenoch, the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party leader, has faulted the Labour Party’s government’s approach to tackling crime, noting that in Nigeria, any youth that goes against the law is made to face the consequences.

She said Britain convinced itself that crime, idleness and bad behaviour are things to be explained away rather than clamped down upon, thereby trying to be everyone’s “therapist, careers adviser or youth worker”.

According to Kemi Badenoch, “All of us were shocked by the phone footage of children smashing up shops in broad daylight, stealing, laughing, filming themselves as though it were a game.

“Some commentators immediately reached for a racial explanation, but that was to miss the point completely.

“While the majority of young looters in Clapham, south London, seemed to have Caribbean or African heritage, the fact is that children in Lagos and Nairobi do not behave that way.

“Why? Because in Nigeria and Kenya the boundaries are clear and actions have consequences. Parents, communities and authorities do not wring their hands or look the other way. It’s a lesson we’ve forgotten here.

“We didn’t get here overnight. For years, there’s been a drip, drip, drip of institutional and cultural change, not least the belief that social programmes matter more than tough enforcement in maintaining discipline. I profoundly disagree.”

Police tired

“It’s no wonder the police are at the end of their tether. Last year, almost 4,500 officers quit before they had completed their probation. Walking a beat in Croydon last month, I asked the sergeant escorting me about his main frustration.

“His reply echoed the feelings of my local officers in Essex. They are tired of arresting the same people week in week out only to see them get off scot-free, or be released just a few weeks later.

“There is a way forward, of course, and it’s called enforcement. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of rules in Britain, after all – it’s the failure to apply them that’s the problem.”

Conservatives

After mentioning the impact of illegal migration, Kemi Badenoch made reference to positive effect of Conservative Party’s deportation plan.

“We see the same lack of consequences when it comes to those who enter Britain illegally. The small boats and lorry loads keep arriving, whereupon yet more illegal migrants follow.

“This is why the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan was so critical.

“Merely the threat of deportation to central Africa was a deterrent in itself, with illegal migrants reportedly bypassing Britain and going to Ireland instead. When Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme, small boat crossings hit new highs and asylum claims reached record levels.

“Our increasing addiction to ‘welfareism’ is another facet of the same problem. If people believe there are no consequences for not working, their behaviour changes accordingly.”

This story is an extract from an opinion piece the Conservatives leader wrote for Daily Mail UK.

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