Releasing prisoners early ‘only way to avoid disaster’, says justice secretary – UK politics live | Politics

PA Media reports that former Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk reportedly pressed former prime minister Rishi Sunak to make the change that Labour are enacting.

In her announcement Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to stress “this is an emergency measure” and “not a permanent change”.

The Law Society has said the announcement by Labour’s Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood that some prisoners will only serve 40% of their sentences in prison in order to make space in England and Wales’ over-crowded prisons is “pragmatic”.

Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said:

The new Lord Chancellor has acted pragmatically and decisively to tackle a prisons crisis she inherited.

It will be important to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place so that any risks to the public are minimised. The concerns of victims who are having to wait years for justice and then see offenders released early must also be recognised. We are encouraged that the Lord Chancellor appears to be very alert to this issue.

The prisons crisis is just one of many connected problems in the criminal justice system following decades of underfunding and cuts. We have seen growing backlogs in the magistrates and Crown Courts, a shortage of lawyers, judges and court staff and a crumbling court estate. Probation services are still on their knees.

When the justice system is in crisis the rule of law and public protection are at risk. The emergency in our prisons illustrates the consequences of the neglect of the criminal justice system.

We hope this announcement will create the time and space for a more fundamental review of solutions to this wider crisis.

Thousands of prisoners to be released early to avoid ‘total breakdown of law and order’

Rajeev Syal

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.”

Marchenko also posted a readout of the call, saying he received reassurance and thanking the UK for it contributions.

George Georgiou, national officer for the GMB Union, has said the crisis in prisons is a “toxic legacy” from the last government.

PA Media quotes him saying:

GMB is clear: probation workers need better pay and conditions. This need is magnified as they deal with the overcrowding chaos – another toxic legacy of the Tory government. The Justice Secretary was very receptive and seems to grasp things have got to change if we want a prison service that’s fit for purpose.

By the way we are expecting the statement about prison over-crowding in England and Wales from new Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood at about 2.30pm.

Green Party of England and Wales co-leader Carla Denyer urged the Government to focus more on “prevention, rehabilitation and restorative justice”, ahead of the Justice Secretary’s announcement on plans to reduce prison overcrowding.

PA Media reports she said in a statement:

The Labour Government’s welcome appointment of James Timpson as prisons minister is a chance to set a new tone on criminal justice.

Now they need to work to reduce the number of people being sent to prison in the first place, starting by immediately publishing the expert drug policy advice sent to the home secretary in 2016, and heeding its advice to decriminalise possession.

Prison is demonstrably an ineffective way of reducing reoffending. We know that short prison sentences have devasting effects on people’s lives by losing jobs, homes and even relationships. And ultimately, we know it leads to higher rates of reoffending.

James Timpson previously said that ‘we’re addicted to punishment’. He is right. Now is the time for the government to take the bold action necessary to place a much bigger emphasis on prevention, rehabilitation and restorative justice.

But this means resourcing the frontline services that have been decimated under 14 years of Conservative rule. It means restoring funding to youth services, rebuilding people’s lives through investment in probation and prison services, and diverting people away from the criminal justice system that drags their lives into an endless downward spiral and towards support services instead.

An anonymous civil servant writes for the Guardian today that after years of being gaslit by government, civil servants can breathe again under Labour …

There is a profound sense of relief that, as the incoming chief secretary to the Treasury recently purred, “the adults are back in the room”. One particularly long-serving colleague told me: “I’ve never been so glad to see the back of a government – of any colour.” But that relief is tempered by the lingering worry that too much has been promised. As another colleague told me: “I’m worried that the public won’t like the time it will take for things to change … will ministers take the blame – or will it be passed down to us?”

A worker from the aforementioned housing ministry also spoke of their relief at the announcement that “levelling up” would be deleted from the departmental boilerplate, almost audibly sighing that “we were widely ridiculed by stakeholders. MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) feels so much more professional and signals a fresh start.” A Welsh government civil servant told me that Keir Starmer’s visits to Cardiff and Edinburgh were a “positive start” and hoped for a kinder and more collaborative approach to working with Scotland and Wales.

Read more here: The civil servant – After years of being gaslit by government, we civil servants can breathe again under Labour

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.

PA Media reports Read wrote in a note to staff that he and the board agreed he should step back over the summer to prepare for the next phase of proceedings, which will look at current practices at the Post Office, and begins in September.

An Institute for Government report on the crisis in prisons in England and Wales identified some key factors which have contributed to the crisis facing the incoming Labour government.

It noted:

The prison population of England and Wales has doubled over the last 30 years, despite crime rates falling substantially. It is currently just over 87,000, up 13% just in the last three years, and the Ministry of Justice projects this to hit 99,300 by the end of next year. Even with new prisons being built, capacity is not expected to grow anything like that fast: only around 4,400 new spaces are planned – but this is against an estimated 12,000 more prisoners.

In 2023, the average custodial sentence given at the crown court, which deals with more serious offences, was more than 25% longer than in 2012. Some of this is due to more convictions for violent offences, which tend to attract longer sentences. But the same crimes are now attracting longer sentences as well. Sentences for robbery, for example, were 13 months longer on average in 2023 than in 2012, an increase of 36%.

These longer sentences kept the prison population largely flat during the 2010s, even as the number of people tried and convicted in the courts was falling.

In the last few years, however, it is two other groups – those on remand and those recalled to prison – that have principally caused the population to rise rapidly. The number of people on remand has risen 84% since 2019 and now accounts for almost 20% of the total prison population. Of these, two-thirds are yet to be convicted of a crime.

Plaid Cymru have called again on the Labour government to end the two-child benefit cap, stating that 30% of Welsh children are living in poverty.

In a post to social media, the party said “Keir Starmer won the general election on a ‘change’ ticket. The most powerful change would be to lift millions of children out of poverty across the UK by ending the two-child benefit cap.”

Ann Davies, newly elected as the Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin, added “As the joint owner of a children’s nursery, I have seen the devastating impact of child poverty on families in Carmarthenshire”.

Ruth Cadbury, the Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth who was formerly shadow minister for prisons, parole and probation, has asked people commenting on the government’s plans for the system to “remember just how bad a state our prisons are in” on account of the previous government.

In a series of posts to social media, she said:

With prisons in the news it’s worth remembering just how terrible a state they are in. Whatever your view on the purpose of prison they are not working. Poor conditions mean prisons are becoming unsafe and failing in their function of helping to rehabilitate prisoners.

Prisons are suppose to be secure. Yet we have seen breach after breach of prison security. In HMP Bedford the security strategy was even deleted & body scanners were left unattended.

Under the Conservatives the number of trained prison riot officers decreased massively, meaning there is a serious risk of disorder if a serious incident breaks out at more than one prison.

Then we have drugs. The number of drugs into our prisons has skyrocketed over the past decade. This funds organised crime and leads to prisoners and officers being targeted to bring drugs into prison.

Then we have the failure to rehabilitate. The re-offending rate of those leaving prison was increasing under the Conservatives towards the end of their term. With prisons being unsafe, drug ridden and dangerous it was no surprise.

Frontline prison officers were facing an impossible job: increased levels of violence, huge amount of stress and increased responsibilities in a system that was crumbling around them. The Prison Officers Association are rightly campaigning & raising awareness about these attacks on their officers.

A lack of housing for those leaving prison was the biggest issue mentioned to me by those working in the sector. People were leaving prison and being given tents. They were being set up to fail.

The poor provision of mental health care, both in the community, the NHS and in prison was also a huge driver behind problems in prison. I’m glad [health secretary] Wes Streeting and the health team have committed to improving mental health care as it is key.

And of course the crisis in our prisons cannot be ignored without looking at the huge backlog in the courts, the lack of support given to our probation service and the shortage of housing – especially in the south-east.

After 14 years of Conservative rule our prisons were frankly left in a terrible state and condition. I really hope that people commenting on the announcement today remember just how bad a state our prisons are in.

The co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales has called for the Labour government to “immediately create safe and legal routes” for asylum seekers after the deaths of four people this morning trying to reach the UK via the Channel.

Carla Denyer said “I am horrified to hear of the deaths of four people who risked their lives crossing the Channel last night. My condolences go out to their families. I, and all the Green Party MPs, urge Labour to immediately create safe and legal routes for people in desperate need of seeking asylum.”

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has said the deaths this morning of four people attempting to cross the channel were “truly awful”.

In a social media statement, Cooper said:

The further loss of life in the Channel this morning is truly awful. My thoughts are with all those affected. Criminal gangs are making vast profit from putting lives at risk. We are accelerating action with international partners to pursue and bring down dangerous smuggler gangs.

My colleague Emily Dugan has a report here.

Jeremy Corbyn has written for the Guardian today. The independent MP for Islington North says:

The general election did not allow for the full expression of people power. Rather, we saw a rejection of the political establishment, leading to a loveless landslide; this election saw the second-lowest turnout since 1918 and the smallest combined vote share for the two main parties since 1945. Public discontent with a broken political system will only grow as the government fails to make the real change that people expect.

That energy needs somewhere to go. It needs to be channelled. It needs to be mobilised. That’s why our campaign will organise with those who have been inspired by our victory to build community power in every corner of the country. Once our grassroots model has been replicated elsewhere, this can be the genesis of a new movement capable of challenging the stale two-party system. A movement that offers a real alternative to child poverty, inequality and endless war. A movement that provides a real opposition to the far right – one that doesn’t concede ground to divisive rhetoric, but stands by its principles of anti-racism, equality and inclusion.

You can read more here: Jeremy Corbyn – People-power led to my re-election. It is the start of a new politics

10,083 prisoners released early by Sunak government, but now only 708 places available in England and Wales’ adult male prisons

Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley has described government plans to release some prisoners early as “the least worst option”.

PA Media report he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

The Government have got a situation where there’s no easy solution. Prisons are very, very close to full and filling up day in day out. The worst possible thing would be for the system to block, because the system blocks in prisons if they get completely full. That kicks back into the courts and into what we do. And that’s really dangerous for the public.

So the Government are forced into making a rapid decision to avoid that risk. So it’s going to be the least worst option they’re going to have to find, so I understand what they’re trying to do, however not ideal it is.