No 10 defends 'yob' uniform call

It was not about "breaking rocks" in chain gangs, said Ms Blears

Downing Street has defended minister Hazel Blears' call for young offenders to wear uniforms while carrying out community service punishments.

The Home Office minister floated the idea as a way of ensuring justice was seen to be being done in the battle against the "culture of disrespect".

Ex-Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe said she could see the uniforms becoming a fashion statement.

But the prime minister's spokesman said the idea was part of a national debate.

In an interview with the Observer newspaper, Ms Blears said she did not want to see offenders "breaking rocks" in chain gangs, as in some parts of the United States.

We might find that bright orange uniforms become a fashion statement Ann Widdecombe

But she did want them to be seen doing something useful, she said.

"People feel very strongly that they don't often see justice being done," said Ms Blears.

According to the Observer, one successful scheme in her Salford constituency involved youths being forced to make floral hanging baskets.

She also said she wanted parents to put children to bed at a sensible hour and restore "structure" to family life.

'Badge of honour'

But Ms Widdecombe said the idea of uniforms for yobs, which the Home Office stresses is not policy, would not work.

"It might well be worn as a badge of honour," she told BBC Breakfast.

"Worse still, it might be lampooned and we might find that bright orange uniforms become a fashion statement.

Introducing uniforms, caps, badges or naming and shaming offenders is likely to degrade them, make them resentful and not turn up for community punishment Harry Fletcher National Association of Probation Officers

"In this crazy day and age, instead of feeling sneered at, they might actually have missiles hurled at them, and ... the people sued wouldn't be the missile-hurlers, but would end up being the Home Office."

And Barbara and Derick Attwood, whose son Shaun was forced to wear prison stripes while on remand in a US jail, said the plans would not work.

"Humiliating young people in this way will make them even more anti-establishment," they said.

Vigilante action?

A spokesman for Tony Blair, who has made tackling yobbish behaviour and "disrespect" a priority, said the uniform proposal was "part of a continuum of prime ministerial thinking".

"The important thing is, as the prime minister said last week, that we do have a national debate on the kind of measures (we need) and signals that we send to those who show disrespect or break the law," the spokesman said.

HAVE YOUR SAY It will make it hard for young offenders to feel positive about reintegrating back into society Josie, London Send us your comments

"It was in that spirit of the debate that Hazel Blears made her comments."

The spokesman added that people had been sceptical about previous initiatives, like anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos), which had worked well in practice.

Chris Stanley, from the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (Nacro), warned that the plan could spark vigilante action.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, called for the plan to be "quietly dropped" like previous similar schemes.

Queen's Speech

Shami Chakrabarti, director of rights group Liberty, said: "How do you engender a culture of respect by degrading people?"

On the wider issue of restoring structure to family life, Theresa May, Tory spokesman on the family, warned the government against simply sending out "initiative after initiative telling parents what to do without actually getting at some of the underlying issues".

The government this week publishes its legislative plans for the next Parliament, which include several measures to crack down on violent crime.

Measures to deal with binge drinking, to give schools the right to search pupils for weapons, and proposals to give community groups and parish councils the power to apply for Asbos are also expected.