Lawlessness in Caerphilly: Justice in Wales
Across Britain, and here in Caerphilly, there is a growing unease—an unspoken but unmistakable sense that something vital has been lost. Our streets feel less safe, our public spaces less respected, and the quiet moral contract that once bound neighbour to neighbour is fraying at the edges.
People sense growing lawlessness. The signs are everywhere: windows smashed without consequence, youths roaming in packs with no fear of authority, drugs openly traded in broad daylight. What was once rare is now routine. What was once shocking is now expected.
This isn’t just the grumbling of nostalgia. It’s the rightful concern of decent, law-abiding people who understand that order is the foundation of liberty—that without justice, freedom is a hollow phrase.
In April, right in the heart of Caerphilly, the derelict market on Pentrebane Street became a symbol of civic failure. Children—some barely old enough for secondary school—were seen drinking alcohol, vandalising property, and even setting the building alight. The area is an essential part of Caerphilly Council’s ‘Caerphilly Town 2035 placemaking plan’ but without progress being made the area had become, in the words of residents, a “no-go zone.” Broadband was disrupted to homes and businesses. Fires were lit. Police were called again and again. And yet the building remains, boarded-up and burnt-out—a totem of inaction.
Elsewhere in our borough, organised crime casts a shadow. Throughout 2025, dawn raids in Caerphilly and Newport have led to arrests for drug offences and the seizure of weapons and class A substances. In Rhymney, a major cocaine dealer was jailed thanks to the tireless efforts of neighbourhood officers. But these victories, though welcome, expose a deeper problem: the sheer scale of lawlessness we now face.
Figures show that in the year to September 2023, Caerphilly recorded over 15,800 offences, a 2.6% rise even as national figures fell. Violent crimes alone numbered over 7,100 incidents, with theft and arson continuing to plague communities already burdened by economic hardship.
In Cardiff, the picture is no less bleak. Knife crime has tripled in the last decade across Wales. Delivery riders are routinely attacked. County lines gangs use street corners as drug-dealing outposts, wielding blades with impunity. Public space, once the domain of families and community, is increasingly ceded to menace and disorder.
We should be honest: the justice system is not working. Far too often, serious offenders receive short sentences—or none at all. Victims are left to pick up the pieces while perpetrators are excused by bureaucratic reasoning and ideological softness. The public knows this. They feel it.
Short sentences for serious crimes do more than insult victims—they undermine the moral authority of the law. They send a clear message: that the state will not defend the innocent, that the wrongdoer has more rights than the wronged.
We must reassert the link between crime and consequence. That does not mean cruelty. It means clarity. It means that if you terrorise your neighbours, destroy property, or deal in death, you will be held accountable.
At this critical moment, with crime rising and public confidence in justice faltering, Plaid Cymru have chosen to pursue a reckless and divisive cause: the devolution of policing and the entire justice system to the Welsh Government.
This would be an unthinkable experiment with the lives of ordinary people. At a time when we need unity, Plaid propose fragmentation. At a time when we need consistency and clarity, they offer complexity and confusion.
Wales does not need a separate justice system. It needs a functional one—rooted in the rule of law, strengthened by the scale and experience of a united judiciary, and guided by a shared national commitment to order and responsibility.
Devolving justice would erect bureaucratic barriers where there should be cooperation. It would sever Wales from centuries of common legal heritage. And it would hand critical powers to a devolved administration that has consistently failed to deliver on the basics—from health care to education—let alone the complexities of courts, sentencing, prisons, and police oversight.
This is not a call for local empowerment. It is the advance guard of a nationalist project that seeks to hollow out the United Kingdom by stealth. The people of Wales deserve better than ideology disguised as reform.
But justice is more than punishment. A truly civilised society seeks to prevent wrongdoing before it begins. We must strengthen the institutions that build character: families, schools, churches, youth organisations. We must support teachers in enforcing discipline. We must fund services that offer young people alternatives to the false glamour of gang life.
And when people do fall into crime, we must offer them a route back—but a route that demands effort, repentance, and responsibility. That means prisons with purpose, not idleness. Education, training, and mental health support must be part of the sentence—not a way to evade it.
At its heart, this is not just a debate about sentencing policy. It is a question of whether we still believe in the moral foundations of our society—whether we still have the courage to defend what is good, true, and just.
Justice delayed or denied is justice betrayed. And it is ordinary people—families in Lansbury Park, shopkeepers in Bargoed, delivery drivers in Cardiff—who pay the price for that betrayal.
As Conservatives, we believe in personal responsibility, the rule of law, and the sanctity of community. We believe that the law exists not only to restrain wrongdoers, but to uphold the conditions in which virtue can flourish.
It’s time to end the excuses. Time to stop tiptoeing around those who choose to destroy. Time to speak plainly: the people of Caerphilly, Cardiff, Newport and beyond deserve peace, safety, and justice.
Here in Caerphilly, we will not be silent. We will fight for stronger sentences, proper policing, early intervention, and meaningful rehabilitation. Because public safety is not a privilege—it is the first duty of the state.
We must be the party of law and order and that is what our communities need.
By Brandon Gorman
Deputy Chairman, Caerphilly Conservative Association
