The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, will today say that parts of Britain are so crime-ridden that they resemble the scenes depicted in the American television show The Wire.

In a speech later today, he will argue that the UK now suffers from the same culture of gang violence found in the US. Grayling will say that British police are fighting an "urban war" against gangs and that violence on the streets has become a "norm and not an exception".

The Wire, currently being shown on BBC 2, brutally depicts the drug trade and gang violence on the streets of Baltimore in Maryland.
Grayling will say that the "urban deprivation and societal breakdown" portrayed by The Wire now affects large parts of Britain.

"When The Wire comes to Britain's streets, it is the poor who suffer most. It is the poor who are the ones who have borne the brunt of the surge in violence under this government.

"It is they who struggle to live their lives against a constant fear of crime," he will say.

"Far too many of those features of what we have always seen as a US phenomenon are now to be found on the streets of Britain as well."

But the Home Office minister, Alan Campbell, rejected Grayling's charges and said that overall crime and drug use were down.

"Since 1997, crime has fallen by 36%. Overall drug use is at historically low levels and robust action is ensuring drugs are being taken off the streets," he said.

He added that the government was concentrating resources on those local areas worst hit by crime.