AN MP today launched a crusade against neighbours from hell, demanding that troublemakers should have their benefits stopped.

Greg Pope, MP for Hyndburn, has arranged a series of meetings with ministers to discuss his plans, which he hopes will be incorporated into a promised Government shake-up of the housing benefits system.

Under the proposals outlined today to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph by Mr Pope, people accused of anti-social behaviour towards neighbours would have their benefits cuts.

If they did not start behaving, or were convicted for anti-social behaviour, they could risk losing all of their benefits.

Mr Pope said: "I have literally dozens and dozens of cases throughout my constituency of good, hard-working, decent people having their lives ruined by people who simply don't care about others. "I have found that, in the majority of cases, the people who are causing the problems are living off benefits in private accommodation." Mr Pope's plan -- which he says has already won a sympathetic ear from Blackburn MP and Home Secretary Jack Straw -- is to make anyone receiving housing benefit sign a contract promising good behaviour.

Should they later be discovered to be in breach of that contract, they will gradually lose their benefits until they start behaving. The proposal is based on the New Deal for Jobs scheme which involves cutting benefits steadily if unemployed people refuse to get jobs.

Mr Pope added: "The housing benefit system is currently undergoing a massive review. Now is the ideal time to put this plan into practise.

"People do have the right to be supported if they need help from the state.

"But with that right comes a responsibility. That responsibility involves making sure you do not wreck other people's lives.

"If they refuse to take up their responsibilities then we should simply remove their right for help."

Mr Pope's stance follows the revelation that residents in quiet Bold Street, Accrington, had put up CCTV cameras and boarded up letterboxes after being plagued by a gang of youths.