Have New Labour taken over from the Conservative Party as the party of Law and Order?

The Conservative Party has long been renowned for its hard-line attitude towards crime and criminals and before the creation of New Labour the, Tories were the unchallenged champions of law and order.

The reformed New Labour Party adopted a similar attitude towards crime and criminals, Tony Blair stated the Party would be:

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.

In this essay I aim to see whether New Labour (hereafter, Labour) has overtaken the Conservative Party as the chief Party of Law and Order in the United Kingdom by looking at policy differences and similarities and any significant differences in between approach by both parties.

Crime and punishment figures published in January 1999 give a reflection of differences in crime levels over the period of Conservative majority and into the inception of New Labour in 1997….(short extract)