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Scotland Yard is to investigate reports of drugs being used in the House of Parliament as the UK government on Monday set out a 10-year strategy for England and Wales to tackle criminal gangs.
Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle said that he was referring matters to the Metropolitan Police after The Sunday Times reported finding traces of cocaine in lavatory areas.
"The accounts of drug misuse in Parliament given to The Sunday Times are deeply concerning, and I will be raising them as a priority with the Metropolitan Police, Hoyle told Sky News.
I expect to see full and effective enforcement of the law. While Parliament provides extensive support services for any staff or members who may need help with drug misuse and I would encourage anyone struggling with such issues to take up such help for those who choose to flout the law and bring the institution into disrepute the sanctions are serious," he said.
The Speaker is said to be keen on a drugs crackdown, including sniffer dogs prowling the corridors, amid claims of cannabis and cocaine being used.
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UK Policing minister Kit Malthouse said he would be surprised if there were no drug users among the thousands of people working in Parliament because it was so widespread, and agreed that the police should investigate.
"If I saw it and witnessed it, I would report it," Malthouse told the BBC.
It comes as his department announced plans to provide rehab for 300,000 drug users who carry out half of all shop thefts, robberies and burglaries.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a 300-million pounds gangs crackdown will be joined by the "largest ever investment in treatment".
Other measures include using dealers' seized phones to message clients and discourage drug use.
Speaking on a visit to Merseyside Police headquarters on Monday, Johnson told reporters: "Overwhelmingly, the problem is caused by 300,000 people whose lives are simply chaotic, who are torn apart by their own addiction.
"You've got to help them, you've got to do treatment. But you've also got to come down hard on the county lines gangs."
Johnson said he wanted to break the cycle of arresting and imprisoning the same drug users "time and time again".
He said that the strategy, which is published in full on Monday, would also "come down tougher" on so-called lifestyle drug users.
The UK Home Office said crimes associated with drugs cost society nearly 20 billion pounds a year in England alone.
It said that includes the burglaries, robberies and shoplifting carried out by more than 300,000 heroin and crack addicts in England and as well as nearly half of all homicides, which are driven by drugs.
Other plans to discourage people from buying illegal drugs will include police using dealers' seized phones to message their clients to direct them to support and discourage use a move the government says will help ensure no-one feels anonymous when buying drugs.
The new plans by the government also include removing the passports and driving licences of repeat offenders.
There are also plans to pilot a behaviour change campaign on university campuses to understand what messages discourage drug misuse at an early stage.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
