THE Tories will be branded "the party of crime" today as the Liberal Democrats seek to burnish their own law and order credentials.
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne will shift the focus of the party's annual conference in Bournemouth on to crime when he makes his keynote speech.
Describing the Tories' law-and-order record as a "disgrace", he will warn that a new administration would mean soaring numbers of offences.
He will draw on Home Office statistics showing a 81% rise in recorded crime between 1979 and 1997, the last period of Conservative rule.
During that time, violent crime increased by 164% and robbery by 405%, he will say.
And he will go on to claim that similar rates of increase now would mean four million more crimes a year.
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