Prime Minister Kier Starmer has knuckled down on commitments to dealing with anti-social behaviour. It comes as he was asked a question on ‘headphone dodgers’ on public transport.

Lib Dem spokesperson for transport, Paul Kohler, asked the PM if he would back the Liberal Democrats’ plan to enforce people to plug in headphones when listening to music or videos on public transport, including buses and coaches.

“The playing of music and loud videos without headphones on public transport is becoming increasingly common,” said Paul Kohler. The Liberal Democrats are calling for change in the law to explicitly ban playing music and videos out loud from a phone on public transport in England, with those who breach the ban facing fines of up to £1,000. The party said they will be seeking to amend the Bus Services Bill currently going through Parliament to bring forward the changes.

Kohler continued: “The various byelaws outlawing such antisocial behaviour are clearly not working, and the planned cuts to the British Transport Police are bound to make matters worse.”

Not low level

Kohler asked whether the Prime Minister would back the Lib Dem plan to introduce effective enforcement and a publicity campaign to persuade people to plug in their headphones.

“We take this seriously; the Conservatives laugh about it” – Prime Minister Kier Starmer

The Prime Minister said Kohler raised an ‘important question about antisocial behaviour’. “We are focused on tackling antisocial behaviour,” said the PM. “It is not low-level; it affects people, their communities, their sense of safety and what they can do with their own lives. That is why an additional £1.2 billion has been set aside for policing—13,000 new neighbourhood police officers, new respect orders and a named officer in every community. We take this seriously; the Conservatives laugh about it.”

The question to the Prime Minister follows the Lib Dems recent call for tougher action to tackle what it describes as a rising trend of music and videos being played out loudly on public transport.

The Lib Dems cite a poll by Savanta that interviewed 2,174 UK adults aged 18-plus online, which found 54% say they would not feel comfortable asking someone to turn down their music on public transport. The poll found 38% say they have experienced people playing music out loud often or sometimes, while only 28% reported that they experienced this rarely. The majority of women (63%) say they would not feel comfortable, higher than the number of males (46%) who say the same.