VIOLENT crime has risen by around a third in the Wee County, prompting a politician to call for more police on the streets.

A 34 per cent increase in non-sexual crimes of violence in Clackmannanshire was noted in fresh figures published for 2018-19 last month.

On top of the increase in violent crimes, sexual crimes also went up by five per cent locally, lower than the Scottish figure of eight per cent, but there was a 20 per cent drop in fire-raising and vandalism.

Nationally recorded crime rose by one per cent, "one of the lowest levels seen since 1974".

Clear up rates, the point at which there is enough evidence to justify criminal proceedings, decreased to 73.3 per cent for non-sexual violent crimes nationally, but this followed a “generally upward trend” since 1976.

The same figure for sexual crimes also went down by 1.9 per cent to 58.1 per cent, lowest since 1979.

Conservative MSP Alexander Stewart said that with crime increasing for a second year in a row, there was a “catastrophic failure of the SNP’s soft touch approach to justice” and said that rises in sexual and violent crime with lower clear up rates will be “devastating news for victims”.

He added: “We all know the true picture is much worse though, given that much crime is never reported to the police.

“If we are to address this deeply troubling trend, the SNP government must finally provide Police Scotland with proper resources and ensure that there are enough officers on the front line.”

SNP MSP Keith Brown explained his party put 1,000 more officers on the beat, “delivering more police per head than anywhere else in the UK”, said reconviction rates were at a 20-year low.

He added: “And we are ensuring that crime does not pay, with £92million seized from criminals invested in community projects across Scotland, including fantastic local groups Ochil Youths Community Improvement CIC and Play Alloa.

“Scottish Tory hypocrisy truly knows no bounds, with the austerity obsessed Tory Government in Westminster cutting police budgets by 19 per cent and slashing over 21,000 police officers from the front-line since 2010.”