TORY PLEDGE TO LOCK UP MORE YOUNG CRIMINALS

The Conservatives began to put in place the main planks of their manifesto
yesterday in case of a snap general election by Tony Blair next year by
unveiling new policies on savings and young offenders.

William Hague said a Tory government will increase 10-fold the number of
young offenders held in secure training centres. His announcement followed
two days of talks with his shadow cabinet at a country hideaway in
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Other promises will appear before and during
their annual conference next month in Blackpool.

Andrew Lansbury, who oversees Tory policy making, also revealed that
manifesto groups will be set up immediately after the conference to flesh
out the details of policies agreed over the past two days to have "a
manifesto to fight the election from summer next year onwards". He said the
manifesto had to be in place in case Mr Blair chose to go early, even
though he does not have to hold the election until spring 2002. MiIlbank
has geared all its planning so far on the assumption that it will be 2001.
The Tory discussions covered the economy, foreign affairs and home issues.

Addressing what Tory focus groups have identified as a key public concern,
Mr Hague said the number of young offenders held in secure training centres
would be boosted. At present, according to Tory figures, there are only 40
held at a secure training centre, with a further 80 places planned, but
they would increase this to more than 1,000. They aim to take 12- to
15-year-olds who continually present a nuisance to neighbours and the
police off the streets.

Mr Hague said: "We will deal with persistent young offenders who
effectively laugh at the courts." The shadow home secretary, Ann
Widdecombe, said the approach would be to combine the stick and the carrot.
The stick will be to link release to "required levels of achievement" -
offenders either reaching set educational or behavioural targets. The
carrot will be to promise that 12- to 15-year-olds who do not re-offend
will have the slate wiped clean by having their files destroyed after three
years. This would not apply to serious crimes such as rape and murder.

The Tories also promised to encourage savers by halving the starting rate
of tax to just 10p in the pound. Apart from tax and young offenders, the
key battle grounds that have emerged so far are Europe, English nationalism
and an appeal to motorists by pledging to end automatic rises in fuel duty.

Tory strategists accept that Labour remains in a strong position because
the economy is in good shape and likely to remain so for the next few
years. Instead, they will attempt to portray Mr Blair as hypocritical and
accuse him of failing to deliver on election promises.

Mr Hague was also urged yesterday by a Tory think-tank to target women
voters if the party hopes to recover from the 1997 landslide defeat. The
centre for policy studies pamphlet, titled After The Landslide, said: "The
most conspicuous example throughout this century of Conservatives
identifying a group of the electorate and consistently tailoring their
rhetoric and policies so as to win them over is the party's success with
women."

The pamphlet was written by shadow social security secretary David Willetts.