Fly-tippers to lose driving licences as Rishi Sunak gets tough on antisocial behaviour

In a victory for the Daily Express after our crusade to end the blight, the Prime Minister announced drivers will be hit with penalty points as well as huge fines.

Mr Sunak insisted everyone has the right to a “sense of pride” in their community as he also announced plans to evict nuisance tenants from their homes.

He said: “Everyone has the right to feel safe in their neighbourhood and a sense of pride in the place they call home.

“The Conservatives are the only ones with a clear plan to ensure safety, security and prosperity in your local community and your high street.

“We will take the bold action needed to crack down on fly-tipping, evict nuisance tenants and stop anti-social behaviour in its tracks so we can build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.”

The Express last month launched a campaign calling for tougher action to wipe out fly-tipping after figures revealed 1.08million incidents reported in England in 2023.

Although it was a 1% drop on the previous year, the number of fines issued by councils fell by 19%, from 91,000 to 73,000.

And there were just 1,665 prosecutions in 2022/23, with 181 councils not taking anyone to court for fly tipping despite facing 502,708 incidents between them.

Industrial fly-tippers already face a range of penalties, including £1,000 fixed penalty notices, unlimited fines and five years in jail.

But the latest plan is aimed at tackling lower level offenders after experts found that many incidents are household items that could fit in a car boot.

The rubbish is often dumped on roads but is even left on pavements, ruining local neighbourhoods.

Mr Sunak announced the reforms as part of a wider strategy to stamp out anti-social behaviour across the board.

He vowed to restore pride in place, improve people’s quality of life and boost community cohesion.

The Prime Minister vowed there will be no tolerance for anti-social behaviour in any form, whether it is fly-tipping, anti-social tenants or people who spoil the high street.

A new “three strikes and you’re out” approach will be taken to residents in social housing who make life a misery for their neighbours.

Laws are already in place to boot out the most serious offenders immediately but the changes planned by the Tories will make it easier for repeated lower level nuisance neighbours to be dealt with.

It comes on top of a series of measures introduced by the government, including an anti-social behaviour hotspot policing programme.

Some areas have seen incidents of anti-social behaviour almost halve, with Brunswick in Blackpool reporting a 42% fall under the programme.

In Southend there were 1,768 fewer offences, a 50% drop, reported in a year after hotspot police patrols.

Mr Sunak yesterday (Thursday) continued to speak to voters on the campaign trail with a stop at Niftylift, a cherry picker manufacturer near Milton Keynes.

The Prime Minister continued to discuss his desire to restore pride in the country after being quizzed about his national service plan for 18-year-olds.

Mr Sunak said the choice between military and community service would become a new “rite of passage” for teenagers.

He said: “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, about how do we restore that sense of patriotism, pride and cohesiveness in our society.”

He added: “It will become a new rite of passage that everyone goes through and bring us closer together.”

It could help develop “a greater sense of pride in what we stand for and what we are as a country”, he added.

Mr Sunak also used the visit to insist that taxes will be lower under a Conservative government.

He said: “We’re very clear, both the Chancellor and I, that we want to keep cutting taxes on working people and that is the choice at this election.

“I believe people’s hard work should be rewarded. And after a difficult few years, we’re now in a position to cut people’s taxes.”

He added that “we want to do more when we can responsibly do so”.

Mr Sunak accused Labour of planning “£2,000 worth of tax rises because they’ve made all these spending commitments they haven’t got the money to pay for” and challenged Sir Keir Starmer “to say which taxes are going to go up” under a Labour government.

Mr Sunak said the Tories’ promised tax cut for pensioners “hasn’t been matched by the Labour Party”, so “there is a retirement tax coming”.