Glasgow gang levels match London

Glasgow gang levels match London

Govan area of Glasgow Glasgow is blighted by "epidemic" levels of drug and alcohol abuse and has the same number of teenage gangs as London, according to a think tank.

The right-thinking Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said the city's economic recovery had been hampered by appalling levels of social deprivation.

Its report predicted that half of all families in Glasgow will be headed by a lone parent eight years from now.

It praised the work of voluntary groups but said it was "a tale of two cities".

Breakthrough Glasgow is the third in a series of reports on the social challenges facing Britain's major cities.

Teenage gangs

It compared social problems in Glasgow with comparable cities in the UK and concluded that the "eye-catching and welcome regeneration of the commercial centre masks the parallel existence of social decay".

The CSJ, which was set up by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, pinpointed a severe youth crime problem in the city.

It warned that there were 170 teenage gangs in Glasgow - the same number as in London, despite it having just a sixth of the population of the English capital.

Iain Duncan Smith

The proportion of young people not in employment, education or training is about 18% - 50% more than the Scottish average and roughly twice that of Manchester.

Glasgow also had the second worst exam pass rate at standard level in the whole of Scotland, according to the report.

The proportion of the city's residents claiming incapacity benefit was the highest of all major UK cities.

It was 50% higher than the Scottish average and double the rate for the UK.

The report's authors admitted theirs was a bleak assessment of Scotland's largest city.

'Listen to people'

However, it also praised the burgeoning number of voluntary projects and workers who were "battling largely unsung in their efforts to rebuild the lives of the many people left behind by Glasgow's economic rebirth".

In a foreword to the report, Mr Duncan Smith, who chairs the CSJ, said: "Glasgow is fortunate to have such vibrant and successful voluntary projects.

"I believe that a committed long-term approach to addressing poverty and social exclusion can work, but that government must listen to the people tackling deprivation on the ground."

It recommended a much bigger role for the voluntary sector in tackling social problems, welfare reform and a renewed drive to get the long-term jobless into sustainable work.