Blitz on yobs

Tony Blair today unveiled a crackdown on yobbish behaviour which aims to identify the 50 worst offenders in each area and bring them to justice.

It comes as Scotland Yard revealed the results of a four-week blitz on drunken troublemakers in London.

Figures released to the Evening Standard show that roving riot squads made more than 200 arrests in 14 boroughs for offences including violence and robbery.

Under today's proposals, residents and businesses will be asked to nominate the 50 worst-behaved individuals who make life a misery in their neighbourhood.

Police will target them with antisocial behaviour orders where possible.

The experiment will be tried first in 50 council areas including at least two London boroughs, Westminster and Camden. Both took part in an earlier pilot of the "Together" campaign.

The Government hopes its plans will reassure voters ahead of figures later this week which will show a rise in violent offences despite an overall fall in crime.

Mr Blair declared a return to a "society of respect" and said the moves would bring "the end of the Sixties liberal consensus" on law and order.

Mr Blunkett claimed the measures would help him meet a tough new target to cut crime by 15 per cent in five years.

Mr Blunkett was announcing details of the five-year plan to MPs in the Commons this afternoon.

Before the announcement, he staged a joint appearance with Mr Blair to put Downing Street's stamp of approval on the programme.

Ministers fear that growing concern over drink-fuelled violence will play into Tory hands at the election expected next year. The Home Secretary yesterday pinned some of the blame on women, claiming that an upsurge in female binge drinking meant they no longer acted as a restraining influence on men.

The target to cut crime by 15 per cent was set at the Treasury's insistence, in return for an aboveinf lation funding increase announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in the spending review.

The extra money will pay for 20,000 uniformed community support officers working alongside police to deter crime and tackle anti-social behaviour.

Mr Blunkett's budget will rise by £2.2billion to £14.9billion by 2008. Within his empire, only the immigration and asylum system will have its funding frozen.

He was using his Commons statement today to update MPs on his progress in providing extra prison places and introducing a national identity card.

Mr Blair's move to distance himself from the permissive Sixties was hailed by political opponents as a stunning U-turn.

The Prime Minister said: " People do not want a return to old prejudices and ugly discrimination.

"But they want rules, order and proper behaviour.

"They know there is such a thing as society. They want the society of respect and responsibility, they want a community where the decent law-abiding majority are in charge, where those who play by the rules do well and those who do not get punished."