Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling used a visit to Bradford yesterday to outline how the Conservatives would seek to tackle the crime and disorder issues affecting the district.

Mr Grayling spoke in depth about a range of issues, from tackling alcohol-fuelled violence in Bradford city centre to the need to break cycles of crime on some of the district’s most deprived estates.

But he began with a fierce criticism of Gordon Brown, accusing him of failing to come up with any original policies during the Prime Minister’s speech on law and order earlier in the day.

Mr Brown had set out plans to create a non-emergency number to inform police about anti-social behaviour and urged police forces to keep officers on the beat.

Mr Grayling said: “I think what we heard from Gordon Brown is much more of the same tired rhetoric that we’ve heard over the years that hasn’t made a difference.”

He said the Government’s approach to tackling anti-social behaviour was “too bureaucratic.”

Mr Grayling said: “An anti-social behaviour order takes months to put in place and needs multiple agencies while, in the meantime, the potential receiver of the ASBO just carries on and on offending.

“I want to give police the power to administer instant punishments to people who commit acts of anti-social behaviour.

“We have proposed grounding orders where we say ‘you can only come out to go to school for the next month’ and compulsory community penalties where if you kick over the neighbour’s fence you spend three Saturdays in the park picking up litter.

“That should happen the first time you offend – it doesn’t give you a criminal record, I don’t want to give lots of 13 and 14-year-olds criminal records that will stop them getting a job in ten years’ time, but I do want to bring in a 21st-century version of a clip around the ear.”

Mr Grayling was asked about cycles of crime and unemployment in the district’s poorest communities.

He said: “We need tough policing. It’s quite clear that we need to be responsive to a threat of crime and the system needs to ensure we don’t keep our police in the police stations filling in forms.

“We have also got to work on the deep-rooted social origins of those problems – long-term welfare dependency, educational failure and family breakdown. It’s a complex problem that could take a generation to turn round in its entirety.”

Mr Grayling said a Tory Government would provide unemployed people with better support to help them into work.

He said: “But if you don’t accept that help, you will lose your benefits.”

In terms of late-night violence, some of which has been seen in Bradford in recent years, Mr Grayling proposed several solutions.

He said: “We need to stop supermarkets selling alcohol at below-cost price which allows people to get fuelled-up on cheap alcohol before they even go out on to our streets.

“We also need to raise the taxes on some of the strong beers, lagers and ciders that fuel anti-social behaviour. “Also, the 24-hour licensing system has put the boot on the foot of the applicant. We will change that back so local authorities have the power to decide whether a licence is granted.”

When asked about his party’s recent dip in the opinion polls, Mr Grayling said the Conservatives always thought the election would be a “real battle” – even when they were miles ahead in the polls.

It was put to Mr Grayling that the more apathetic voters often said they could see little difference between the policies of the main parties. He was asked to outline a policy on law and order where the Tories differed significantly from other parties.

He said: “One key area where we need change is that I think our criminal justice system is no longer on the side of the law-abiding citizen.

“Should you be able to defend yourself against a burglar who enters your home. A Government minister said last week quite clearly that the current law is fine. But we’ve had a number of cases of people who have ended up in court after defending their own families in their homes.

“I think that’s wrong and that you should only face prosecution if you use a level of force that all of us would accept is completely and utterly over the top.

“The default should be that if you are defending yourself against the burglar, the burglar should expect to leave their rights in the doorway when they enter your home. That’s something we’ll change.”