Labour and Tory MPs reject Liberal Democrat plan to cut crime
A Liberal Democrat plan to cut crime was voted down by 293 votes to 57 in the House of Commons last night. Labour MPs voted against, and Conservative MPs abstained on, a Lib Dem motion proposing a new direction in government policy to deal with the crisis in the criminal justice system. The motion proposed reforming prisons to make education and training compulsory, and triple the number of prisoners doing paid work, with contributions from earnings going towards a victim compensation fund. More use of restorative justice, an expansion of secure mental health facilities and providing more police officers (paid for with the money saved by scrapping ID card) were also proposed.