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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| PM to launch local poll campaign | PM to launch local poll campaign |
| (9 minutes later) | |
| Gordon Brown is launching Labour's campaign for the May local elections and is expected to focus on community policing and improving public services. | |
| More than 4,000 seats will be contested in England and Wales during the elections, along with London's mayoral contest and London assembly voting. | More than 4,000 seats will be contested in England and Wales during the elections, along with London's mayoral contest and London assembly voting. |
| The Tories, yet to officially launch their campaign, are ahead in the London mayoral race, opinion polls suggest. | The Tories, yet to officially launch their campaign, are ahead in the London mayoral race, opinion polls suggest. |
| The seats being contested this year were last fought in 2004. | The seats being contested this year were last fought in 2004. |
| The prime minister will hope to win back some of the seats and councils lost by Labour. | The prime minister will hope to win back some of the seats and councils lost by Labour. |
| Restorative justice | |
| A key theme is expected to be community policing, with new details on Neighbourhood Policing Teams, to emphasise Labour's claim to be in touch with the concerns of voters. | A key theme is expected to be community policing, with new details on Neighbourhood Policing Teams, to emphasise Labour's claim to be in touch with the concerns of voters. |
| In London, Ken Livingstone, who is seeking his third term as mayor, launched his environmental manifesto with a pledge to make the capital "one of the greenest cities in the world". | |
| Restorative justice will deliver benefits for people in London who are fed up with a minority of kids acting up on buses, causing fear and apprehension Boris JohnsonTory mayoral candidate | |
| He restated his proposal to bring in a £25 a day charge on "gas guzzling" cars in the congestion zone. | |
| He said he would also extend the low emission zone charge for polluting lorries, buses and coaches to include all lorries over 3.5 tonnes from July 2008, and the heaviest vans from 2010. | |
| Meanwhile, Mr Johnson launched a scheme to use restorative justice to deal with teenagers who misbehave on London's public transport system. | |
| Under his "Payback London" policy, youngsters who behave badly on buses would have their free travel passes - given to under-18s - withdrawn. | |
| They would have to undertake unpaid work such as cleaning graffiti to earn their passes back. | |
| Mr Johnson said the move was a way of reconnecting teenagers' rights to free travel in London with their responsibility to behave. | |
| "It's a good liberal principle of restorative justice and it will deliver benefits for people in London who are fed up with a minority of kids acting up on buses, causing fear and apprehension," he said. | |
| Former Metropolitan Police commander Brian Paddick, the Lib Dems' mayoral candidate, has pledged to cut crime by 20 per cent in four years. |