“Labour will [introduce] new Respect Orders - powers to ban persistent adult offenders from town centres, which will stamp out issues such as public drinking and drug use”
Provisions to establish Respect Orders will be included in a forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill, which the government has said it will introduce in early 2025.
In its manifesto, Labour said it would introduce new Respect Orders, giving powers to “ban persistent adult offenders from town centres, which will stamp out issues such as public drinking and drug use”.
The orders form part of wider plans to tackle antisocial behaviour. According to the most recent estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 36% of people experienced or witnessed some type of antisocial behaviour in the year ending June 2024. That same year, police forces across England and Wales recorded 1 million incidents of antisocial behaviour.
The measure supports one of the government’s five headline missions, to “take back our streets”, as set out in Labour’s manifesto.
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On 22 November 2024 the government published an update on its plans to introduce Respect Orders. As a result, we’ve updated this pledge to “in progress”.
The government says Respect Orders will give the police and local councils powers to crack down on those involved in repeated incidents of antisocial behaviour, such as street drinking, vandalism, harassment or riding off-road bikes in public parks.
Failure to comply with Respect Orders will be a criminal offence, and the police will be able to arrest anyone who breaches them. Potential punishments include prison sentences of up to two years, unlimited fines, community orders and curfews.
The orders will be piloted before being rolled out nationally, but the government has yet to provide details of how many pilots will run or where they will take place.
The provisions needed to bring in Respect Orders will form part of the Crime and Policing Bill, first announced in the King’s Speech.
The Home Office told Full Fact that the Crime and Policing Bill will be introduced in early 2025, but said no further details about the Respect Order pilots were available at this stage.
As we develop this Government Tracker we’re keen to hear your feedback. We’ll be keeping the Tracker up to date and adding more pledges in the coming months.
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Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024