HOME Secretary Jack Straw used his experiences in Blackburn to back up his keynote address to the Labour Party's Spring Conference.

His speech pledged to "bring victims in from the cold" by a range of measures to increase compensation to victims of violent and sexual crimes, step up funding to Victim Support and the introduction of a Victims' Rights Bill.

He warned delegates to beware cynicism and apathy at the next election.

Mr Straw said: "I had two poignant reminders of all this on Friday night in my Blackburn constituency.

"In the pub, after a community meeting, a man I'd never met before came up to me and said, 'Mr Straw, you've got to do more to remind people where that lot -- the Tories -- had left people like me. How they knocked out the jobs, what a difference you've made.'

"And earlier at a constituency surgery, a disabled woman came in to ask for my help, and then thanked me for what we'd already done to make such a difference for the lives of pensioners and working families.

"We've got a new hospital in Blackburn, educational standards are up, infant class sizes are down, crime is down, unemployment is the lowest it's been for 25 years."