Jack Straw criticises Barnado's report on child custody

Speaking at a Labour party conference event to a panel including Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie, and shadow schools minister Michael Gove, he said: “What drives me nuts is that there is not a single mention in this document about victims”.

He told the audience at the event, organised by the Sun newspaper to discuss “broken Britain” that he will lock young people up if they commit serious crimes.

However, he said he wants to avoid “demonising all young people” for the behaviour of a few.

Cherie Blair urged that a penal response to crime is too simplistic and called on parents to help reduce youth crime. She said: “We need to tell our children that if they go out with a knife they are not protecting themselves.”

“Young people are not a problem in our country; they are part of the solution. We need to engage as much as we can with young people. They are the victims of crime as much as the perpetrators”, she said.

Gove argued that child custody issues could not be resolved without addressing the root causes of society’s problems.

He blamed family breakdown and absent fathers as well as a poor education system for failing young people. Targeting children early before they go to secondary school is key, he said. He claimed children who fall behind at primary school and then go on to “a big grange hill style comprehensive school” are a lost cause.