Under-fire Suella Braverman has been accused of failing to "hold criminals to account" over her record on referring judges' sentences for toughening-up.
In her former role as Attorney General - the Government’s top law officer - the KC was responsible for referring cases to the Court of Appeal when they were submitted to her by victims' families and other members of the public under the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme.
Research shows that between January and August - Mrs Braverman’s last eight months in the post before being promoted to Home Secretary under Liz Truss - she only referred one in seven eligible cases to the Appeal Court, down from almost one in four cases in 2021.
Analysis showed she referred about one in 13 sentences for murder and manslaughter, and one in 22 for causing death by dangerous driving.
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She referred none of the 17 cases referred to her of sexual activity with a child, and her referral rate for cases of rape was down from 34.3% to 21.5%.
In total, Mrs Braverman challenged just 14.8% of the sentences she was asked to review this year - referring half as many cases to the Court of Appeal as her predecessors did between 2015 and 2018.
The revelations came amid mounting pressure on Mrs Braverman after her sensational comeback as Home Secretary just six days after quitting for leaking a sensitive government document to an ally.
Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry said tonight: “The one defence Rishi Sunak has made of his decision to re-appoint Suella Braverman is that she will be an effective crime-fighter, and yet her record as Attorney General suggests she is anything but.
“More cases are being submitted every year to the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme by victims of crime and their families, but under Braverman the proportion of those cases referred to the Court of Appeal fell almost 40% in the space of 12 months.
“If she won't hold criminals to account when given the chance, and is putting our national security at risk through her leaks, why on Earth did Rishi Sunak think she was the best person for the job of Home Secretary?"
During the period studied, 784 sentences were submitted for consideration by the Attorney - 98 per month - compared to 994 in all of 2021 - 82 per month.
Of the 519 cases deemed eligible, she considered 500 before becoming Home Secretary, and referred 14.8% to the Appeal Court.
Cases that researchers say she opted not to refer include that of Francis Mukendi, who was jailed for a minimum of 15 years at Wood Green Crown Court in April after a string of attacks on six women in four years.
She also decided not to refer the sentencing of Brandon Heath, who was cleared of murder but jailed for 13-and-a-half-years months for manslaughter at Chester Crown Court in March after the death of a 22-month old toddler.
Mrs Braverman also opted not to refer the case of Harley Demmon, a 16-year-old jailed for a minimum of 14 years for murder at Gloucester Crown Court in February, for stabbing to death fellow teenager Josh Hall.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said: “The Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme allows anyone, including victims of crime, to ask for a review of sentences they believe are too low.
“There is a high bar to any appeal and referrals can only be made under the ULS scheme to the Court of Appeal if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so - for example, if the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available.
“The threshold needed to challenge a sentence is a high one, meaning that in many cases this test is not met.”
Referrals for offences which fall within the scheme must be made within 28 days.
