London - The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, yesterday accepted the call by the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, for cross-party consensus on reform of paedophile laws but went on to criticise the Tories for helping to create "insecurity and fear" in Britain, writes Rachel Donnelly.
While Mr Prescott said he did not blame the Tories directly for the anti-paedophile violence in Portsmouth and other areas in Britain, there was an "atmosphere, which leads to insecurity and fear, which I think perhaps the Tories have tended to influence by some of their statements and non-statements".
The Conservative leader made his appeal for cross-party consensus in an article for the Sunday Times in which he called for the increased use of life sentences for paedophiles, among other measures.