Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch has known as for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to herald emergency legislation so as to stop the early release of a whole bunch of prisoners.
Burnham introduced final week that he was pausing the scheme, which might have seen about 700 prisoners freed within the first part in September, following a backlash from survivors and victims.
But the Conservatives say the federal government’s evaluation won’t stop offenders being launched.
The scheme was a part of a bid to stop unprecedented overcrowding, which Labour says was attributable to Conservative governments failing to construct new prisons.
A Labour spokesperson mentioned: “It’s this government that is fixing the Tories’ mess.”
On Tuesday, Burnham mentioned: “It is a challenging situation and we shouldn’t actually be in this position as a country, but we have to deal with the reality of where we are.
“But I’ll do something I can to minimise danger to the general public and that’s the reason I’m trying once more and why I’ve put the release plan for September on maintain and we’ll make additional statements on this sooner or later.”
Early release was used by the Conservative government, external in 2023 due to jail overcrowding, first for 18 after which 70 days. By early July 2024, earlier than Labour got here to energy, 10,000 prisoners had been launched early.
When Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street, there were fewer than 100 spare prison places across the adult male estate, prompting a new release scheme which saw 60,108 people let out early between September 2024 and December 2025.
Under the government’s new Sentencing Act, passed in January, another 6,000 prisoners were due to be released at varying stages, starting from September.
While the act already excludes among the most severe and harmful offenders, akin to murderers serving life sentences or these on prolonged sentences, the eligibility for early release is based on the length of fixed sentence, external, fairly than the kind of offence.
That means some criminals convicted of serious sexual and violent offences who have a fixed release date will leave prison earlier than they had expected – although subject to monitoring and risk of recall to prison.
Conservative shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan has accused the government of being “extraordinarily dishonest” about its release plans, telling the BBC its claims that serious offenders will not be released are not true.
Badenoch is calling on Burnham to fast-track legislation to keep serious offenders behind bars.
Speaking at a press conference alongside victims who could be impacted by the changes, the Conservative leader said: “It’s fairly clear that the prime minister sees that this can be a downside, however I do not suppose he is aware of what to do about it.”
Without emergency legislation, Badenoch says dangerous offenders will start to be released the day after MPs return to Parliament after the summer recess on Tuesday 1 September.
She is calling on Burnham to revoke legislation coming into effect on 2 September and if necessary recall Parliament to ensure the worst violent and sexual offenders are exempted from early release.
The government has the power to decide when parts of the Sentencing Act come into force and can change the start date without Parliament returning from recess.
Asked if the problem of prison overcrowding was a failing of the last Conservative government, Badenoch said the “disaster” had been a “very long time coming”.
“We did one thing, it wasn’t sufficient, I’m sorry about that,” she said, adding: “I can not repair the previous, what I can do is give you options.”
She said that to solve the problem of prison overcrowding in the long-run, the public needed to accept that some prisons would have to be built in their communities.
She also urged the government to consider renting prison places overseas.
Successive UK governments have explored the concept of sending prisoners to Estonia, nonetheless in 2025 the BBC was informed that Conservative and Labour ministers had decided the plans would be too expensive.
Burnham’s decision to pause the scheme came after criticism from the family of Thames Valley Police officer Andrew Harper, who was killed in Berkshire in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road by three teenagers.
Two of the killers of PC Harper, who were both sentenced to 13 years in prison, would have benefited from the scheme from June 2027, when the longest fixed sentences would have been added.
PC Harper’s widow Lissie called the plans “deplorable” and said politicians were “making selections from behind a desk that may have actual and lasting penalties” for the families of victims.
Defending the review of the Sentencing Act that has been announced by Burnham, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Conservatives have some nerve.
“During their 14 years in office, they shut 23 prisons, created just 482 jail places, and granted early release to 10,000 prisoners – leaving the criminal justice system teetering on verge of collapse.
“It’s this authorities that’s fixing the Tories’ mess. We have already delivered over 3,000 jail locations and we’re investing billions to ship 1000’s extra.”
Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller MP accused the Conservatives of leaving the prison system on the “brink of collapse” and said there was an “alternative for Burnham to appropriate the errors made by his predecessors with this scheme”.
Reform UK’s Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said only his party had consistently opposed early release, describing it as a “disastrous” policy he said was introduced by the Tories with Badenoch supporting efforts to expand it in 2024.
Clarification Tuesday 28 July: A earlier model of this story mentioned the act already excludes essentially the most severe and harmful offenders and the eligibility for early release is predicated on the size of sentence. We have clarified to say that among the most severe offenders are excluded and the eligibility is predicated on the size of a set sentence.
