The Government today declared that a tough new robbery offensive in West Yorkshire had cut street crime by 26 per cent - although the country's police force failed its target of cutting the total number of robberies to below the previous year's figure.

West Yorkshire police was one of ten forces across Britain ordered to cut offending rates under the Home Secretary's much-heralded Street Crime Initiative.

Today David Blunkett said the scheme, which will see £31m pumped into the various hotspots over 12 months, has cut overall street crime by 16 per cent since its launch in April.

In West Yorkshire the number of offences fell 26 per cent between April and September. The figures, which cover both robbery and snatch thefts, showed 684 offences committed throughout April compared to 506 last month.

Mr Blunkett said: "Whichever way you look at these statistics, this has to be good news, both for the public and for the morale and commitment of all those working to achieve improvement and change."

He highlighted that the scheme has also involved local authorities, education chiefs and the judiciary, resulting in more suspects being remanded, diversionary schemes for 'at risk' youngsters and 12,000 pupils picked up through anti-truancy sweeps.

Mr Blunkett said: "However, until the public feel safer and experience this reassuring change through their family and friends, statistics will not alone convince them. That is why we are continuing the Street Crime Initiative, cascading the lessons learnt across the whole country and applying improved working to other forms of high volume crime."