Question

Asked by Mark Pritchard to Home Department on 26 October 2026 — tabled under the Andy Burnham government

Illegal car cruising is a real blight on communities, causing noise pollution and terrifying local communities, including pedestrians and legal road users alike, on private and public roads. Will the Minister look again at the legislation to see whether this particular crime—it is a crime—can be penalised in a different way? At the moment, the generic legislation for antisocial behaviour is not catching enough people and is not a deterrent.

Answer

Answered by Sarah Jones (Labour)

I am happy to look into whether respect orders might cover the crimes that the right hon. Member talks about and help in this space. Of course we need to ensure that we have more police in our communities, and we will always look at the legislation to see whether there is more that we can do to come down hard on these kinds of behaviours, which make our constituents and our communities really not feel safe in their own environment. We will continue to work on that.
40% vibes

Verdict: AMBER (66/100)

The question asked the minister to look again at the law on car cruising, and the reply directly commits to examining whether respect orders could cover these offences and to reviewing the legislation for further measures. However, the reply does not explain how a respect order would differ from the existing anti-social behaviour powers, and the commitments are to consider and review rather than to a decision. The asker has a clear response to act on but would probably need to follow up for specifics.

How we got there

Question itemCoverageSpecificityRationale
Will the Government look again at the legislation to consider whether illegal car cruising can be penalised in a different way from the generic antisocial behaviour powers. Addressed Direct The minister directly commits to looking at whether respect orders could cover car cruising offences (statement 1) and to reviewing the legislation for more that can be done (statement 3), which answers the request to look again at the legislation. The reply does not clearly explain how a respect order would differ from the generic ASB powers the item asks about, so the answer is somewhat thin on that point.

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