The absence of fathers lies behind far more than a rise in knife crime

SIR – Tony Sewell (Comment, August 29) is to be congratulated for raising the politically sensitive issue of single parenthood, overwhelmingly single mothers, in the black community and its links to knife crime. However, this is a relatively small symptom of a much larger problem.

Britain has an unusually high incidence of single-parent families compared with most other developed countries. There is considerable evidence that this is causing problems in many respects, particularly to do with crime, lack of educational achievement, underachievement in the workplace, and poor physical and mental health in single parents and their offspring.

This is a big issue which society has largely ignored because it is difficult to solve as well being politically sensitive. We need to address it as a matter of urgency. Dr Tim Cantor West Malling, Kent

SIR – Tony Sewell is right. The real cause of knife crime is the lack of a dominant male father in the family.

Society tolerates so many spurious variations on what constitutes the “family” that we have lost the essential perspective of the importance of the male role. However, it is now customary not to ruffle the feathers of minority groups lest we offend. Hugo Wurzer St Mary Bourne, Hampshire

SIR – Allison Pearson writes that the “lack of law and order in a Conservative Britain is criminal” (Features, August 29).

The Conservatives gave up the mantle of the party of law and order in 2010 when Theresa May became home secretary and embarked on a series of budget cuts and police reforms based on political dogma rather than reasonable evidence.

As a Metropolitan Police sergeant from 1980 to 2012, I had experienced crime falling steadily until 2010, for a number of reasons including an adequately supported police force. Despite numerous warnings that cuts of over 20 per cent – now nearing 35 per cent – would have serious consequences, she continued with them.

Mrs May also threatened to pass primary legislation to force a reduction in the use of stop and search if the numbers were not reduced, despite being warned that it was imperative for police to use that preventive tool to help curb the rising incidents of knife crime. This has now been acknowledged by Iain Duncan Smith, who has called for “intensifying” use of stop and search. Clifford Baxter Wareham, Dorset

SIR – Why just blame the Prime Minister for the rise in crime?

A lot of the blame lies with those who removed Section 66 of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1839. This gave the police the power to stop and search suspects. Liddle Stokoe Ashtead, Surrey