Rape film 'desperate' - Labour

The Tories blame Labour for dozens of crimes

Labour has accused the Conservatives of "plumbing the depths" with a new broadcast suggesting the government is directly responsible for dozens of crimes.

The election film - televised on Tuesday evening - says the government's early release scheme has led to more cases of rape and robbery.

What I think is scary is that this is what is happening in our country today under a Labour Government

Tim Collins
Tory vice-chairman

Home Office Minister Paul Boateng condemned the broadcast as a "dire and desperate" tactic.

But the Tories reject charges of scaremongering and argue it is Labour's record on law and order which is frightening.

The menacing, black and white film echoes a controversial broadcast used by George Bush against Michael Dukakis during the 1988 US presidential race.

That broadcast sparked a political storm and the Tory version is seen as a deliberately controversial move aimed at pushing the spotlight onto law and order.

Fuel tax offensive

The film suggests Labour is to blame for two rapes and dozens of other crimes.

Actors play criminals being let out of jail early and committing crimes.

And it promises the abolition of Labour's early release scheme.

Mr Taylor accuses Tories of hypocrisy

Under the scheme, prisoners jailed for up to four years can be let out two months before the usual halfway point of a sentence. They are electronically tagged and subjected to a night-time curfew.

Home Office figures show only 3% of people released under the scheme reoffend - far below the rate for prisoners released normally.

The Conservatives also use the broadcast to renew their offensive on rises in fuel tax under Labour.

The film shows mothers and disabled people looking at their cars in despair because of the cost of fuel.

Home Office Minister Paul Boateng said the broadcast was a damning indictment of how the Tories wanted to use negative campaigning.

He told BBC News: "It shows the depth to which the Tories are now prepared to descend."

Mr Boateng said the home detention curfew scheme - as he called the early release policy - had been successful.

'Misleading'

Lib Dem treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor said the broadcast was "hugely misleading".

The Conservatives promise "honesty in sentencing", saying current sentences bear no relation to the time criminals spend in prison.

But Mr Taylor said this could lead to shorter sentences with released prisoners having none of the incentives of being on licence.

This is negative advertising of the worst possible sort as well as being a gross distortion

Paul Boateng
Home Office Minister

The broadcast was also condemned by Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust.

"This is scaremongering. The general public deserve full information."

She argued Conservative plans would see the prison population soar from 65,000 to more than 100,000.

Crime fears

Tory vice-chairman Tim Collins defended the broadcast, saying: "What I think is scary is that this is what is happening in our country today under a Labour Government.

"It is in fact the case that because of the Labour Party's special early release scheme, tens of thousands of criminals have been released on to our streets prematurely."

But former party vice-chairman Michael Dobbs said he found the film "disturbing" and would have had a problem using individual cases himself.

"I think it comes very close to accusing the Labour Government of being personally responsible, and directly responsible, for things such as two rapes."