“It’s time to move beyond the ASBO”: The Coalition and anti-social behaviour

On 28th July 2010, in a speech on anti-social behaviour, the Coalition Home Secretary Theresa May declared that, “It’s time to move beyond the ASBO”. In what appeared to be a radical departure from the (old) New Labour approach to anti-social behaviour, she went further in stating that, “For 13 years, politicians told us that the government had the answer; that the ASBO was the silver bullet that would cure all society’s ills. It wasn’t. Life is more complex than that.” Theresa May called for “a complete change in emphasis”. For a new government there are certainly political gains from being seen as different to the previous administration. In this short article I consider what the Coalition’s approach to anti-social behaviour (ASB) might be. There are some surprises in the rhetoric, but also some familiar Conservative themes.