Summary of the day …
Keir Starmer’s government will release thousands of prisoners in England and Wales after they have served 40% of their sentences and recruit 1,000 probation officers to solve an overcrowding crisis that threatens “a total breakdown of law and order”, the justice secretary has announced. The lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, described the policy as “the only way to avert disaster”, saying if prisons were to run out of places, courts would be forced to delay jailing offenders and police unable to arrest dangerous criminals – a crisis that would leave the public at risk. Rishi Sunak’s government released more than 10,000 prisoners up to 70 days early, figures revealed, but prisons have been at 99% capacity for about a year
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood firmly laid the blame at Sunak’s door, saying “Sunak and his gang in Number 10 are the guilty men, she says, responsible for the crisis in the prison system”. Starmer earlier described the state of the system he had inherited as “grossly irresponsible”
Chief inspector of probation Martin Jones questioned whether there is “enough time” to get probation processes “right” ahead of the early release of some prisoners under government plans. He said the probation service already has “a caseload nearly three times the number of those in prison”
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader in Westminster, has said the Labour government needs to go further with its plans to tackle prison overcrowding in England and Wales, and that full devolution of justice to Wales – as it is in Scotland – would be the way forward. Green Party of England and Wales co-leader Carla Denyer urged the Government to focus more on “prevention, rehabilitation and restorative justice”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has said the deaths this morning of four people attempting to cross the channel were “truly awful”. Shadow home secretary James Cleverly said “As a country we must do everything in our power to stop the boats and put an end to this vile trade in human suffering”
Labour has summoned the bosses of some of the worst-performing train operators, including Avanti West Coast and TransPennine, for meetings next week as it seeks to rapidly reform the railways and reset industrial relations. The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, will bring in Network Rail route directors to attend all talks with the train companies, signalling the move towards an integrated railway
The Treasury has said chancellor Rachel Reeves spoke to Ukrainian finance minister Sergii Marchenko. It said she “reaffirmed the UK’s continued support, in the same week the government recommitted to £3bn a year of military support for the country”
The Post Office chief executive Nick Read will temporarily step back from the role so that he can give his “entire attention” to the next stage of the Horizon inquiry, he has said
Some other details from the government policy announcement on prisons today. It said that Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood also visited Bedford Probation Office today to speak with frontline staff to hear about the challenges they were facing.
The government statement said:
Acknowledging these challenges, the Justice Secretary has also set out plans to recruit over 1,000 additional trainee probation officers by March 2025, allowing for greater oversight and management of offenders once they leave prisons.
During her speech, the Justice Secretary reiterated her commitment to tackling the prison crisis for the long term. This included clear plans on how prisons can be built quicker by unblocking the planning system and enacting wider system reform and a 10-year capacity strategy will also be published in the Autumn, in line with the spending review timeline.
An annual statement on prison capacity will also be published every year, making sure the government is being held to account and must always have the prison places to keep dangerous offenders off the streets. This will make sure the public will never face the situation it is in today again.
The government has announced it will release thousands of prisoners after they have served 40% of their sentences, with Mahmood describing the policy as “the only way to avert disaster”.
