TOUGHER sentences for dangerous drivers are to be announced in the Queen’s Speech today, according to a local MP.

Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, expects sentences for people who cause injury or death by dangerous driving will be increased in line with those given to murderers.

He said: “It cannot be right that while the sentence for homicide is life in prison, the average sentence for a criminal driver who kills someone is just four years.”

The Telegraph & Argus has been running its Stop the Danger Drivers campaign since November 2015, which has led to a major police operation to crack down on dangerous driving in the district.

Local MPs have backed the campaign, and some have supported the idea of tougher sentences.

Naz Shah MP (Labour, Bradford West) agreed that sentences for reckless drivers should reflect the crimes committed.

She said: “When someone has taken an innocent life by driving recklessly, it’s not right that they get away with only a year or two behind bars, when someone who is completely innocent has everything taken from them.”

Judith Cummins MP (Labour, Bradford South) praised the work of the T&A campaign, which has been nominated for a national award.

She said: “The campaign has really raised the public profile of this issue and I would welcome tougher penalties as sentences do not always reflect the seriousness of their crimes.”

Kris Hopkins MP (Conservative, Keighley) said: “We must ensure those who endanger lives and public safety are properly punished and I will support all measures that toughen the sentencing regime.”

Bradford East MP Imran Hussain, Labour, also put his support behind longer sentences, saying: “I hope that it will act as a much stronger deterrent to dangerous driving and deliver justice for the families of victims.

“We must look at ways of ensuring that drivers are better aware of the extremely serious consequences of dangerous driving to prevent them from putting others in harm’s way on the road.”

However, Shipley MP Philip Davies said life sentences are not the answer.

He said: “We all know that life sentences are very rarely for life, so creating more meaningless life sentences is not really appropriate; it just makes a mockery of the judicial system.”

Amjad Malik, whose 15 year old son was killed by danger driver Syam Khan, said tougher sentences will be a good idea.

He said: “The kids these days just think ‘I’ll do a couple of years inside, I don’t mind’, but if the penalties are harsher I think it would make them stop and think before recklessly racing round the streets.”

Stop The Danger Drivers is shortlisted for the Making a Difference award in Local Newspaper Week.

Our campaign is up against 31 other initiatives from local newspapers across the country and the winner will be decided by a public vote.

You can vote at www.localnewspaperweek.co.uk until 5pm on Wednesday, May 18.