SO CRUCIAL is the issue of law and order to their party's bid for votes that Labour and the Conservatives now seem locked in a battle to prove who is tougher on crime.

For just as Home Secretary Michael Howard is due this week to publish White Paper proposals on stricter sentences - the ones which have upset judges who say their powers of discretion would be curbed - up pipes his opposition shadow, Blackburn MP Jack Straw with Labour's own hard-line hit-list for offenders.

For while the White Paper proposes such measures as automatic life sentences for second-time rapists and minimum terms for persistent burglars, Labour gets even tougher.

It is calling for open-ended terms for first-time rapists and minimum terms - fixed with the judiciary's help - for all offenders.

However, what is notable about all this is not only the heed which politicians are at last giving to the public's concerns over crime and the demand for a more retributive response, but also how many useful measures may be lost because the issue of law and order is beset by this politicking. For the fact is that if the White Paper proposals and those of Mr Straw were taken together instead of being regarded as alternative packages, the firm and sensible approach that ordinary people want taken to deal with the crime problem would have a better chance of success.

The stronger sentences called for in both sets of proposals do meet the public's expectations, and Mr Straw's plan to end the inconsistency over the penalties handed down in different courts is truly merit-worthy.

That is because the judiciary-friendly scheme to have the Court of Appeal lay down sentencing guidelines for all types of cases would let everyone - and particularly the offender and victim - know what to expect.

But is it not a pity that, in the votes auction being conducted by our law-and-order politicians, the upshot is that commendable proposals are more likely to be rubbished by these rivals - when the need is for them all to be considered and the best of them embraced in new legislation?

In short, political consensus, not confrontation, would be a much better and more effective weapon against crime - and a fast-track to getting these tougher sentences and other deterrent steps on to the law books.

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