Gordon Brown promised tougher sentences for people convicted of violent offences on public transport and more money for the National Health Service yesterday.

Only a week away from becoming prime minister, Mr Brown began leaving the Treasury behind with a series of forays into other policy briefs.

In a speech to the Association of Chief Police Officers in Manchester he said that, despite the pressure on prison numbers, he intended to give the police the powers they were demanding. There would be no let-up in efforts to tackle gun and knife crime, with five years’ imprisonment for carrying a gun and two years for a knife.

He said, however, that on his trips round the country he had heard time and again the fears of ordinary people about travelling on buses, Tubes and trains and about waiting on station platforms, faced with the sudden or random threat of violence or aggression.

He announced that the Government would consider whether the fact that a serious offence was committed on public transport should be an aggravating factor in sentencing. That would mean that people found guilty, for example, of assault on a train would face bigger sentences than for the same offence committed in the street. Officials said that there would be consultation to decide, for example, whether offences at bus-stops would be included.

Mr Brown also said he accepted that there had to be tougher laws against child pornography.

Mr Brown told GMTV that the health service was his priority. Just as he later told the police that he would cut unnecessary red tape, he said that he would do the same in the NHS, cutting back on unnecessary bureaucracy for doctors and nurses.

Despite the extra tens of billions of pounds pumped into the NHS, Mr Brown said that he would put “more in to get more out” of the system. “I know we have got to put more money in,” he said. “I know that we will put more in to get more out and I want the British people to know I take that most seriously.”

In words that suggest that he will move Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, Mr Brown said that the NHS had got to do better. It would be his priority in his first days in offfice and he would listen to the public’s views with “citizen’s juries” on the health service.

People wanted to be treated with dignity as patients; they were worried about MRSA; and they wanted more staff. “We want to get more power down to the local hospital, more say for the patient, more say for the nurse and doctor in getting on with the job. We will be able to set out in the next few weeks measures we can take to make the health service better. I know it has got to be better. I know we have got to listen to what people are saying.”

In Manchester, Mr Brown pledged several other crime and punishment measures, including drug education for the under10s. He promised a review of antidrugs policies and promised to look at giving judges the power to hand tougher sentences to violent criminals on public transport.

Mr Brown said that ministers needed to take a fresh look at the use of on-the-spot fines, a system that has been repeatedly championed by Tony Blair.

Mr Brown added that the police should also play a role inside more schools to help teachers to keep pupils out of trouble. “I want to look at bringing neighbourhood policing teams into our schools so we can tackle bullying and disorder both inside and outside the school gates,” Mr Brown said.

Andy Trotter, Deputy Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, said: “We very much welcome Mr Brown’s support. Whilst crime is down on Britain’s railways, passengers and staff are rightly concerned about the levels of antisocial behaviour and disorder. Increased support from the courts would be a welcome boost to our efforts.

“People have an absolute right to work and to travel on the rail system without fear of attack. Antisocial behaviour increases the fear of crime and we must do more to tackle it to reassure people that they are safe.”

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