A war of words continues to reverberate after the Government's casino plan announcement for Torbay.
Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has previously said the Secretary of State admitted there would be an increase in crime after a casino was built.But the man who wants his job, Tory prospective candidate Marcus Wood, says the official Parliament record says otherwise.
In Parliament, Mr Sanders asked Tessa Jowell what support would be given to voluntary organisations and councils to enable them to deal with the increase in gambling addiction, and what extra resources will go to the police to deal with the increase in crime.
The Hansard report reveals Tessa Jowell's reply: "As for the Hon Gentleman's questions about addiction and crime, those issues are fundamental to the oversight of the casinos and the judgement about whether they should be allowed to continue to operate.
"Without the protective benefits of the new legislation, people are at risk from the vast new range of gambling opportunities that have developed in the past four to five years.
"Those opportunities are regulated by legislation which was placed on the statute book 40 years ago, which is why we must introduce new legislation."
Mr Wood claims Mr Sanders might have the wrong end of the stick.
He said: "All the Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell is saying, is that if one of the new casinos did give rise to a crime or addiction problem, then it could be closed down."
But Mr Sanders is sticking to his guns.
He said: "She did not deny crime will rise. She did not deny there will be a rise in gambling addiction.
"Gam Care is the government's response to the inevitable rise in gambling addiction.
"There is no evidence in the world which shows where a casino opens, there is a fall in crime.
"There no evidence which shows where one opens there's a fall in gambling addiction either."
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