Tories angle for upper hand with five-point plan to tackle crime

The Conservative Party leadership is drawing up a five-point plan to tackle rising crime as it begins to answer criticism that the Opposition is a "policy-free zone".

Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary, will outline his themes in a speech tomorrow: more police on the streets; a crackdown on hard drugs; a shake-up of the criminal justice system; early intervention to stop "problem" youngsters becoming repeat offenders; and much greater rehabilitation to cut the high rate of reoffending.

Crime will be one of the first areas in which the Tories sketch out their broad policy themes later this year, starting at the party conference in Bournemouth in October. Iain Duncan Smith, their leader, is closely involved in the plans.

The Tories believe that David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has unveiled too many headline-grabbing initiatives in an attempt to make Labour look "tough" on crime. They will stress their package is neither "hard" nor "soft" but balanced.

Addressing the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank in London, Mr Letwin will advocate a "spot them young" approach under which primary schools would be urged to identify children with problems.