Labor refuses to rule out ending the early release scheme

Labour’s chief justice refused to rule out her party ending the early release scheme for Tory prisoners, despite Sir Keir Starmer saying he was “critical” of the strategy.

The plan introduced under Rishi Sunak allows certain prisoners to be released up to 70 days before the end of their sentence in an effort to reduce overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales.

The Conservatives previously promised to deliver 20,000 new prison places, and so far 6,000 have been created.

Labor said it would deliver the remaining 14,000 by unlocking the planning process and boosting the prison building programme.

Shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood refused to rule out ending the early release scheme as she said Labor should “lift the hood” on the government before the true scale of the prison crisis is known.

She told the BBC: “I think the government actually needs to get closer to the public. We all know that prisons are either 98% or 99% operational.

“It’s debt neglect that the government hasn’t actually released all the figures about their early release scheme – they’ve actually done it in secret.

“It would be irresponsible for me on the opposition side, without seeing the data on the number of offenders who have been released or having all that information, to make those decisions now.”

Asked again if she would rule out continuing early release, Ms Mahmood said: “It would be irresponsible to make those decisions from the opposition without all the information at hand.

“An incoming Labor government, if we are privileged enough to win, should lift that bonnet and see what horrors await us.”

At a campaign event in Essex, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “critical” of the early release scheme for prisoners, but added that “tough decisions” would need to be taken.

The former head of the Crown Prosecution Service and barrister said: “I am critical of the Tories’ early release scheme because what has happened is they are releasing early prisoners who should still be in prison and that is a shocking state of affairs.

“Like the many problems they have left the country, if we come to power, we will have to solve them.

“Now, that’s going to involve building prisons, that’s going to involve making some difficult decisions because the money has been allocated to build prisons, but there are difficult decisions about planning and building these prisons.”

On Sunday, Sir Keir reiterated his pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT under a future government, despite a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that tax increases would be necessary to to maintain current departmental funding levels.

Ms Mahmood said solving prison overcrowding was “not a money issue”.

She told the BBC: “Part of the reason we have overcrowding in our prisons is because the government has run out of space because it hasn’t delivered all the 20,000 prison places it said it would by next year.

“Actually, it’s not a money issue in this regard.

“The money has already been allocated in the Ministry of Justice budget, it is actually a failure of the Government because they let the planning system stand in the way and allowed the complaints of their MPs, especially the back MPs. to stop any building in our country.

“So it’s really about the government having the will to build the prisons from day one.

“We would designate prisons as being of national importance so that those decisions are ultimately made by ministers rather than the usual planning process.”

In a new law and order bid, the party wants to set up 80 new specialist rape courts in England and Wales to speed up cases as part of plans to tackle violence against women and girls, which will be included in the manifesto Labor this week.

Elsewhere in the morning rounds, Ms Mahmood defended her party against accusations that they had changed so much they were unrecognizable to the Tories.

Responding to a comment made by Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer during the BBC Seven debate on Friday that Labor had “turned into the Tories”, Ms Mahmood said: “This is exactly the sort of thing that you would expect from some of the smaller ones. parties.”

She told Sky News: “There are billions of pounds worth of differences between us and the Tory Party because we will make different decisions.

“For example, by charging VAT on private school fees, we will make the non-doms pay their fair share, we will ensure that the oil and gas giants pay their fair share with the corresponding exceptional levy.

“That is a big difference between us and the Tory Party.”