Seizing children’s mobile phones and bicycles could deter them from getting into trouble, according to Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary.

He said giving police the power to confiscate children’s property could become a kind of “21st-century clip around the ear”.

The Conservatives say the idea is part of a broader criminal justice strategy, which is due to be unveiled in the autumn. Mr Grayling has already suggested that troublesome youngsters should be grounded as part of a range of light-touch punishments that could be administered much more quickly than antisocial behaviour orders.

He told an audience at the Centre for Policy Studies yesterday that all police officers should be given greater discretion and a better range of punishments to help them to deal with the “Nokia generation”. Informal community punishments would help police to deal with antisocial behaviour without leaving children with a long-term criminal record that could harm their future employment prospects, he said.

“If we are to deter potential troublemakers, the consequences they face have to be relevant to the lives they lead and to be immediate. Otherwise why would they stop what they are doing?” he said.

“I’d like to see police given the power to confiscate, temporarily, a young troublemaker’s mobile phone,removing their SIM card, with all their mobile numbers and text messages on it, for a fortnight or a month. Not permanently, but long enough to make a point.”

Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “We look forward to discussing with the Conservatives what can realistically be done to tackle crime at a local level and the availability of police officers with full powers to deal with it.”

But Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: “All the evidence shows that the way forward with children in trouble is rehabilitation, not pointless punishment. Taking their mobile phones away will simply encourage them to steal one or buy a pay-as-you-go phone.”

A spokesman for Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, dismissed the plans as a “superficial gimmick”.

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