Early evening summary
Labour has described the Ministry of Justice’s confirmation that it wants to get rid of short jail sentences for most offenders, as part of a response to the prison overcrowding crisis, as “a damning indictment of this government’s collective failure”. (See 5.59pm.)
Rishi Sunak has described the Hamas attack on Israel as a “pogrom” and “an existential strike at the very idea of Israel as a safe homeland for the Jewish people”. (See 3.37pm.) In a statement to MPs, he said that at least six Britons were killed, and 10 more were missing. He offered very strong support for Israel, and for the Jewish community in the UK, but he said he had urged the Israeli government to take “every possible precaution” to avoid civilian casualties. (See 3.48pm.) Keir Starmer adopted a very similar tone in his response. (See 3.55pm.) MPs from all parties expressed their horror at the killings by Hamas, although some MPs did dissent from the goverment/opposition frontbench line by criticising Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians and accusing it of breaking international law.
Labour says prisons announcement 'damning indictment of government's collective failure'
Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, starts by saying:
As everybody knows, the first stage of rehabilitation is to acknowledge your mistakes and make a sincere apology to those affected and let down by your actions.
She says this announcement is “a damning indictment of this government’s collective failure”.
