Ann Widdecombe Says Priti Patel Was Right To Say Criminals Should "Feel Terror"

3 August 2019, 18:12

Former Prisons Minister Ann Widdecombe says Boris Johnson's new Home Secretary Priti Patel was right to say criminals should "literally feel terror" at the thought of breaking the law.

The Brexit Party MEP told Ian Payne it was the "right talk", but Priti Patel had to "now produce the action behind the words".

I think it is the right focus to say that, we've got to back the police and give them the necessary powers and criminals should be afraid to commit crime," Ms Widdecombe said.

"There was a time where that was so blinking obvious, nobody would have said it!"

Ms Widdecombe said: "Stop and search is one of the weapons we desperately need in the fight against knife crime but that's not enough.

"If a policeman stopped and searched you and you've got an offensive weapon, if all you get is a tap on the wrist that isn't going to deter anybody

"But if your weapon is going to be confiscated and you yourself are going to be arrested, that will deter you.

"However then you have to move down the line - we need facilities to hold such prisoners and then what sort of penalty is there going to be, and we need facilities for that as well.

"I acknowledge it's challenging, but it's certainly not impossible."

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