by Peter Simpson, Right Times
Is Britain’s lawlessness an economic problem or a crisis of the human heart?
A couple of weeks ago ITV ran a most disturbing report on life in crime-ridden Middlesbrough. As I myself live in the area and preach regularly in the open air in the town, this is obviously an issue much on my mind. The report was triggered by an appalling accident on the A66 around 3:30 am on the morning of 22 August in which seven people died, two on duty police officers – PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough – were killed when their police car was hit by a vehicle travelling the wrong way down the A66. The five young men in the vehicle also died. This ‘incident’ brought national attention not just to the criminal mayhem in the town but also to the grip that organised crime has on it.
In addition to the A66 tragedy homes have been rammed by cars, there have been stabbings, and a house fire led to two more deaths. Between September 2025 and August 2026 a cool 23,419 crimes were recorded in Middlesbrough, making it one of the worst places for crime in the whole country. The Teesside region which Middlesbrough is part of also has the highest murder rate in the country.
ITV reported police officers being physically attacked ‘on a daily basis’ and the programme featured a young father who said that he only goes to sleep at night with a crowbar placed next to his bed, such is the criminal volatility of his neighbourhood. He told of vandals who had glued broken glass to a slide in one of the local children’s play areas.
Much of Middlesbrough’s crime is drug dealing related and gang warfare between rival leaders. Locals fear reporting them to the police for fear of reprisals against themselves.
But what is causing all this criminal turmoil? Standard explanations trace it back to the region’s loss of much of its manufacturing industry since the 1980s, and the now longstanding lack of employment opportunities. But its unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent is not hugely above the 4.9 per cent national average. In fact London’s unemployment rate, now up to 7.6 per cent, is considerably worse.
The inadequacy of attributing crime in Middlesbrough to industrial change and economics alone suggests a need to broaden this discussion beyond Teesside and into the realm of more general principles. For few would dispute that an environment of lawlessness is increasingly characterising our nation. We only have to consider the appalling epidemic of shoplifting, which is a grave problem in endless towns and cities. Visiting my local Sainsbury’s last week, located in the midst of an enormous housing estate, a staff member was guarding a locked door at 11am -letting people in only after viewing them – because of the high levels of theft taking place.
There is the question of whether economic decline and a perceived lack of job opportunities is, anyway, a ‘legitimate’ reason for young men to turn to drug-taking, drug-dealing, shoplifting, and other criminal activity? As though alleged economic deprivation justified the donning of balaclavas to engage in dangerous anti-social behaviour. Does a stagnating local economy ever give validation to turf warfare between different criminal gangs, which can put terror into a whole neighbourhood?