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Red Wall seats are facing a threat from rising crime rates coupled with crippling court closures, Labour has said.
Eighteen marginal seats hit with court closures have been identified by research as targets for the Labour Party.
By the end of last year, the Crown Court backlog stood at 58,350.
More than a fifth of those cases have been outstanding for more than a year – the highest since 2014.
The statistics come as almost 300 courts have been closed since the Tories came to power in 2010.
But England and Wales has seen a steady rise in the number of firearm and knife offences while the latest figures show police are solving far fewer crimes.
In the year to September 2021, just six per cent of offences resulted in a charge – down from 7.3 per cent the previous year and 15.5 per cent six years ago.
A map showing police forces in England and Wales, coloured by their respective crime rates for 2021. Cleveland in Yorkshire merged in top spot, followed by West Yorkshire.
