Tony Blair’s drive against antisocial behaviour has been scrapped by the Government.

The Respect agenda, announced with a fanfare of publicity two years ago, has been ditched as part of a shift of government emphasis in tackling youth crime.

Louise Casey, the Respect commissioner, has been moved to another job in the Cabinet Office as part of the changes.

The Respect task force, a 30-strong team set up in 2005 and headed by Ms Casey, has been replaced by a youth task force presided over by a career civil servant. The dismantling of the whole Respect agenda took place quietly last year as Gordon Brown sought to distance his Government from key policy areas of his predecessor, including licensing reform and the reclassification of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug.

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Ms Casey, who was regarded highly by Mr Blair as a “can do” official, has been commissioned to carry out a cross-departmental review on how best to engage communities in the fight against crime. Mr Blair considered the Respect Agenda as one of his most important initiatives - a view that he said was reinforced by what he heard from the public during the 2005 general election campaign.

He believed that it should spearhead the drive to tackle low-level crime and antisocial behaviour, which he said blighted the lives of many people, particularly those in the most disadvantaged communities.

The Home Office has already abandoned a key part of the Respect Agenda by scrapping the introduction of the 101 nonemergency telephone number which was intended to allow people to report antisocial behaviour such as fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles.

James Brokenshire, a Conservative home affairs spokesman, said yesterday: “Respect promised so much and has delivered so little. The Government hasn’t even completed a proper assessment of where it thinks its various interventions are working.

The Children’s Department has insisted that the new youth taskforce is taking on work done by the Respect task force in helping youth services to turn youngsters away from antisocial behaviour.

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