Labour Choose to Release Criminals Early

To govern is to choose. Resources are finite yet demands upon them are almost infinite. Different groups often have conflicting demands and to meet one demand another has to be denied, such as the early release of prisoners. No government has ever pleased all of the people all of the time. However, some governments have been better than others. To put it bluntly, we can – and do as voters – judge governments on the choices they make.

A topical example of this is provided by the current government’s choice to release some prison inmates earlier than normal to free up spaces in our chronically overcrowded prisons. Keir Starmer blames the previous government for leaving things in such a mess that he has no alternative but to release 5,500 prisoners by the end of October. That is, just over 6% of the total prison population.

‘Usable operational capacity’, the total number of people prisons in England and Wales can hold while taking account of control and security is 89,619. According to the Ministry of Justice, on 6^th September the total prison population of England and Wales was 88,251. This leaves a spare capacity of 1,098.

Successive Governments failed to Build Prisons

The prison service’s measure of a ‘good, decent standard of accommodation’ is 79,856. The fact that the government thinks that prisons in England and Wales can hold nearly 10,000 more inmates than the prison service is comfortable with suggests that the government would rather keep heaping more and more undue pressure on the prison service than do something to sort out the problem of prison overcrowding.

Of course, blaming the previous government is entirely beside the point. The point is that Starmer made a very bad choice when other better choices were available. Labour and the Conservatives are both wrong to play the tired old political game of trying to blame each other. They are both equally at fault. The Westminster system that creates parties like them is really to blame.

All governments over the past thirty years have failed to plan properly and build enough prisons. For example, a 2021 spending review by the previous Conservative government pledged to build an extra 20,000 prison places in England and Wales ‘by the mid-2020s’. Yet, so far, only 6,000 have been built. That’s a laughable 30% of what they promised us. That’s not a near miss.

Failure to Deliver Infrastructure

It’s truly pathetic. Sadly, this is not the only example of the government’s failure to deliver big projects. Aircraft carriers and civil service IT systems are other obvious examples of big projects that cost way more than they should have and deliver results that are not fit for purpose. The Westminster system also creates governments that cannot handle big projects. Even though one of the main reasons for having a government is that government is supposed to be capable of providing things that the ordinary citizen cannot provide for themselves.

The Labour governments under Blair and Brown often resorted to the early release of prisoners to free up capacity in prisons. So did the Conservative governments that followed. The current scheme had indeed been planned by the previous government. But that does not mean that Starmer had to give it the green light. He could have shown true leadership and chosen a better alternative.

Both the NAPO probation union and victim support groups warned that some sex offenders and violent criminals will be released, putting their victims at particular risk. Starmer chose to ignore this common sense advice from groups who truly understand these issues. And, officials from the Ministry of Justice assured us that proper care would be taken to vet those being given early release and properly protect the public.

Well. Yet again a politician pushed a ridiculous policy that flies in the face of common sense. And, civil servants insulted us by making meaningless promises that they knew they couldn’t keep. Once again, ordinary people have suffered for the Establishment’s hubris.

Early Release Prisoner Reoffends on Day of Release

One of the very first prisoners released under this scheme reoffended in Sittingbourne, in Kent, on the very same day that he was released. Two days later he was charged in a magistrate’s court with ‘sexual assault’. He is due to appear in crown court in October.

Thankfully, there is no need for despair. There is a political party capable of making these kinds of decisions. Reform proposes using unused military bases to house criminals whenever prisons cannot cope. No policy will please all of the people all of the time. There will have to be compromises and trade-offs and maybe the rights of some groups of people will have to be put before the rights of others.

I, for one, am very happy to prioritise the victims of crime and public safety over convicted criminals. Indeed, surely, keeping criminals in disused military bases is better for public safety than releasing them and allowing them to do even more harm to their victims. The kind of party that advocates such common sense policies has a proper concern for the ordinary citizens of this country and should be in government.

Political Judgement Called into Question

Apologists for Starmer cannot get away with dismissing this as a one-off mistake by an otherwise competent and decent government. Despite promises made during his election campaign, and in spite of the opposition of many Labour MPs and Labour voters, Keir Starmer has chosen to deprive some pensioners of their winter fuel allowance. Even though Labour’s figures suggest that doing so will result in 4,000 deaths. At the same time, Labour is continuing to spend taxpayer money on foreign aid and accommodation for illegal asylum seekers. He would rather that your Granny and Grandpa freeze to death this winter than make cuts to the foreign aid budget or money spent housing illegal asylum seekers to try to balance his budget.

Thankfully, Reform believes that charity begins at home and would continue to pay the winter fuel allowance to all pensioners. They choose to balance the budget by reducing government waste, reducing the foreign aid budget and other such common sense measures that will benefit the people of this country and stimulate economic growth, which is the real key to reversing Britain’s decline.