BB FANS

Press Association
Thursday May 12, 2005 5:08 PM

Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the war on "hoody" gangs which terrorise the public, saying he wanted to make restoring "respect" for others a central plank of his third administration.

He said people were "rightly fed up" with yobbish behaviour and he backed the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent which has banned youths wearing hooded tracksuit tops from its premises.

The premier's comments came as he outlined a "bold" legislative programme for reform and renewal of public services in his third term in office.

He was speaking at his first monthly news conference of the new parliament, just a week after a polling day which saw his majority slashed from 161 to 66.

Mr Blair said it was "fatuous" to think his Government could not get its programme through with such a majority and promised White Papers outlining Government proposals on reform of the NHS and schools before the autumn. The Prime Minister also pledged to develop more personalised public services and said a Green Paper floating ideas on reform of Incapacity Benefit would be produced before the end of July.

Mr Blair, asked about the Bluewater initiative, said: "I have total sympathy with that and I totally agree with that."

He told reporters: "During the election campaign I heard people who have been talking about a loss of respect. We need to address this problem, not just as a Government but as a society. I will be setting out my plans in a speech in the coming weeks. I'm determined to make this a central piece of our third term agenda."

He added: "Society without prejudice should not be one without rules. People are rightly fed-up with street corner and shopping centre thugs, yobbish behaviour sometimes from children as young as 10 or 11 whose parents should be looking after them, Friday and Saturday night binge-drinking which makes our town centres no-go areas for respectable citizens, of the low-level graffiti, vandalism and disorder that is the work of a very small minority that makes the law-abiding majority afraid and angry."

Mr Blair said the Cabinet, meeting this morning, had agreed the Queen's Speech for the new parliamentary session. It will be delivered on May 17.

"It will be a bold programme for the new parliament which starts to implement the manifesto on which we were elected," he told reporters.

Bloody Right too, people scuking about with those hoods up are taking the piss, walking around like they think they own the place they deserve a slap. You see em walking about with those things up on sunny day's with the temp into 90's. Another part of the chav culture like shell suits only worse. It's about time the Government started getting tough on these arse holes

I couldn't agree more with you, there are tons of 'kids' round here who do that all the time

someone needs to. Too many kids take the p**s these days because they know they can get away with it. [Cue Hovis music] when I were a lad if I misbehaved I got a slap from me mum - these days if you want to slap your child you probably need a judge's decision .

Will the new signs look like this?

Its not the clothes, its the person inside that is the issue.

I don't much care how the filth of society dress, whether they dress up as clowns, or go round in hooded tops. If they start wearing business suits, you want the govt. to ban those too?

I suppose we could implement a shoot to kill policy on anyone wearing such clothes? It might solve a great many problems on the estates.

Calrissian: Wondering if Avian Flu will sort out the D-E class people instead.

A lot of pubs ban certain brands such as Stone Island, because of their association with football hooligans. In some places certain types of attire are not appropriate (trainers in clubs) but I think in this case it's more the type of person they should be dealing with not what they're wearing. I mean, what next, a ban on wearing Elizabeth Duke jewellery? That'll be the end of them

We all know the type of hoody wearing individual the ban is aimed at and it is not before time either, imo. Where I live we have teenagers going around on bikes wearing hoodies smashing into parked car to steal anything they can get their hands on and making their getaway on their bikes using the hood on their jacked to conceal their identity. They are down our high street intimidating other teenagers/elderly and young mums because they have got so cocky in their hidden world. The law abiding public should be delighted that something is going to be done about them at last.

The UK's largest shopping centre says visitor numbers have soared since gangs of youths wearing hooded tops and baseball caps were banned.

Bluewater in Kent saw a 22.6 per cent rise in the number of shoppers over the May 14-15 weekend compared to a year earlier.

However, it said the rise could have been caused by a number of factors, including the weather and advertising campaigns.

The shopping centre banned the clothing which can prevent identification after it was plagued by nuisance behaviour from groups of teenagers.

Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair endorsed the decision amid public concern over crime and anti-social behaviour.

Manchester's Trafford shopping centre said it had banned visitors from wearing hoods pulled up since it opened in 1998.

ITN

I got a hoody on today!!!

UMM, does anyone think that the Chavs will suddenly think wearing an orange boiler suit, a sign of status, it'll be the next burberry cap, they'll all want 1, causing them to commit even more crimes

well it wouldgo well with their orange foundation line for the girls

It is about time that they put a stop to all the bad behaviour as it gives the area that people live in a bad name just because there are a few people that have no respect for the area that they live in that gives the area a bad name.

Hope they've got orange micro mini skirts for the girls then!
Oh and I havent been served my ASBO yet despite venturing out in my hoodie to work...

Hope you were wearing a Baseball Cap UNDER the Hoodie spikylass

Yeah...think I had the Adidas logo hidden though!!!