Publication

Assessing the General Election manifestos

By 
Richard Garside
Friday, 26 May 2017

The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat General Election manifestos propose more than 100 crime and justice-related policies between them.

This UK Justice Policy Review Focus scrutinises some key manifesto pledges in the area on the police, prisons and drugs policy.

Policy areas covered in this briefing include:

  • Will more police on the street, pledged by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, help to cut crime?
  • Can tough community sentences, proposed by the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, help to reduce the prison population?
  • Can Labour and Conservative plans help to address the prisons crisis?
  • Should the UK adopt a public health approach to drugs harms, as proposed by the Liberal Democrats?

For each policy, the briefing asks three simple questions: Does the policy have a clear purpose? Is it based on evidence? And is it desirable?

This Focus also puts the manifesto pledges in context by summarising recent criminal justice trends.

The UK Justice Policy Review Focus series sits alongside the annual UK Justice Policy Review reports. They offer supplementary in-depth analysis of criminal justice policy and data developments not covered in the main reports.