‘Thank you Andy Burnham,’ say prisoners released early from jail
As mentioned earlier, hundreds of prisoners are being released early today across England and Wales, and some had a message for the prime minister.
“Thank you Andy Burnham,” one prisoner leaving HMP Durham in north-east England said, according to PA.
Another prisoner leaving HMP Cardiff said: “Thank you very much and don’t get me back here again, bro.”
Not exactly the sort of message that will delight the prime minister, who inherited the early release scheme from Keir Starmer (Burnham has since narrowed its scope after criticisms from MPs, victims, campaigners and frontline prison officers).
Speaking of the former prime minister, today’s scenes may bring back memories of the “Big up Keir Starmer” comment from a prisoner released early in October 2024.
My colleague Hannah Al-Othman captured the scenes of celebration outside prisons as the government’s early release scheme got under way in her report:
Outside HMP Swaleside in Kent, Daniel Dowling-Brooks, 29, said: “Big up Keir Starmer” as he was celebrating with his friends, mother and sister who picked him up in a convoy of a white Bentley and black Mercedes G-wagon.
He told reporters he had served seven years for kidnap and grievous bodily harm of someone who owed money to his friend, and had been released seven weeks early.
He said he regretted his crime, and planned to spend more time with his two children and his friends.
He said the first thing he would do was “go to McDonald’s, go to my hostel and follow all the rules”.
“I feel good, man,” he added. “I feel happy.”
Key events
Victim Support launches new offender release helpline
Victim Support has launched a new helpline for anyone with concerns about the early release of prisoners.
The charity’s CEO Katie Kempen said: “Images of prisoners being released today will be extremely distressing for the many victims who are already feeling incredibly scared and anxious about the early release of offenders.
“Supporting people through the impact of crime is why Victim Support exists. While it’s wholly unacceptable that victims continue to bear the brunt of a justice system in crisis, we are glad to be able to provide free, independent, specialist support at this critical time through the dedicated helpline launching today.
“Our specially trained advisers will give callers the space to be heard, provide practical guidance to protect their safety and wellbeing, and help them to understand next steps.
“We urge anyone who is affected by, or worried about, changes to an offender’s release date to call our new Offender Release Helpline on freephone 0808 168 9280.”
Charities warn Tory ‘tough love’ benefits plan could push young people deeper into poverty
Back to the Conservative party’s ‘“tough love” plan to get young benefit claimants into work (we had more on that in an earlier post), we have comments from charities concerned about the impact on people living in poverty and with disabilities.
Child Poverty Action Group’s director of policy, Sara Ogilvie, said:
If we learnt anything from the austerity era it’s that cutting social security support drives up child poverty and cuts young people off from opportunity. Much better training and employment support is needed but blocking access to universal credit would not remove young people from jeopardy, it would dig the most disadvantaged deeper into hardship.”
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Mencap, which supports people with learning disabilities, said:
Many young people with a learning disability want to work. It’s help and opportunity that are lacking, not ambition.
“Cutting off support through the benefits system won’t create jobs. It will push young disabled people into poverty, creating hardship and suffering for individuals and greater pressure on the public purse as other services pick up the pieces. We know sanctions-based approaches hit people with a learning disability hard because they are likely to struggle with complex requirements, daily attendance rules and inaccessible information.
“Getting more young disabled people into work means investing in opportunity, not cutting support: expanding supported internships, providing specialist employment support and helping employers recruit disabled people.”
Of course, opponents of the early release scheme have come out to criticise it.
Laila Cunningham, Reform UK’s candidate for mayor of London, was outside HMP Wandsworth speaking to reporters.
She said if she was Andy Burnham, she would “hang my head in shame”.
“He should go speak to every domestic abuse victim who is fleeing her home and look them in the eye and say how’s he going to help them, what’s he going to do for them,” she added.
Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk and shadow justice secretary, said the public would “pay the price”.
He said: “Today’s releases are an insult to victims, a danger to the public, and will only encourage more lawbreaking from criminals who know they have a ticket out of prison.”
Some more comments from prisoners who have been released today, courtesy of the Press Association:
Michael Bogle, 38, from Brent, north-west London, told reporters outside HMP Wandsworth that he served 78 days in prison after breaching a 32-week suspended sentence for shoplifting.
He said he had been jailed five separate times for 100 convictions.
In a message to Andy Burnham, he said: “Keep the early release going. It’s good.”
He said there is a risk he would shoplift again “but hopefully not”, telling reporters he had an approved premises to live and plans to go to the job centre.
Matthew Johnson, 35, from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, said he was “buzzing” to be out of HMP Leeds, where he served six months of an 18 month-sentence for actual bodily harm.
Of the early release scheme, he said: “It’s a good idea, to be fair. They need to free up some places anyway. It’s a bit cramped.
“The staff are overwhelmed anyway with what they’ve got to cope with at the minute.”
The father-of-five said he was going to “go home and see my kids”.
Jordan Laverack, 26, said outside HMP Leeds: “The plan for today its to go to KFC and after that I’m not sure.”
He said: “I think early release is good for myself. I can see why there’s a lot of attention behind it, because there might be people doing heinous crime who are getting released early. But for the average person, who’s missed probation like myself, I think it suits somebody like me.”
Mr Laverack said he served just under four weeks for missing probation appointments, but would not say why he was on probation, adding: “nothing too bad”.
He said: “I just want to get myself some work, some employment, make my family proud, maybe get a girlfriend, get married, you never know.
“They’ve actually released me with nowhere to stay but I’ve got a few friends I can stay at. The people who don’t will be back doing what they’re doing.”
Just as a reminder of why prisoners are being released early, here is an explainer by Jamie Grierson which sets out how the scheme works, why it was introduced and the changes made by Burnham’s government:
Jamie writes:
The Labour government says it inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse, with fewer than 100 spaces left in the summer of 2024. No 10 says a lack of investment in the prison estate, with just 500 net places added over a decade, has led to a situation where adult male prisons are now at 98% capacity. It says the steps are necessary while it builds capacity.
‘Thank you Andy Burnham,’ say prisoners released early from jail
As mentioned earlier, hundreds of prisoners are being released early today across England and Wales, and some had a message for the prime minister.
“Thank you Andy Burnham,” one prisoner leaving HMP Durham in north-east England said, according to PA.
Another prisoner leaving HMP Cardiff said: “Thank you very much and don’t get me back here again, bro.”
Not exactly the sort of message that will delight the prime minister, who inherited the early release scheme from Keir Starmer (Burnham has since narrowed its scope after criticisms from MPs, victims, campaigners and frontline prison officers).
Speaking of the former prime minister, today’s scenes may bring back memories of the “Big up Keir Starmer” comment from a prisoner released early in October 2024.
My colleague Hannah Al-Othman captured the scenes of celebration outside prisons as the government’s early release scheme got under way in her report:
Outside HMP Swaleside in Kent, Daniel Dowling-Brooks, 29, said: “Big up Keir Starmer” as he was celebrating with his friends, mother and sister who picked him up in a convoy of a white Bentley and black Mercedes G-wagon.
He told reporters he had served seven years for kidnap and grievous bodily harm of someone who owed money to his friend, and had been released seven weeks early.
He said he regretted his crime, and planned to spend more time with his two children and his friends.
He said the first thing he would do was “go to McDonald’s, go to my hostel and follow all the rules”.
“I feel good, man,” he added. “I feel happy.”
Burnham rejects Tory/Reform UK claims his call for debate on all options for closer EU relations betrays byelection pledge
Andrew Sparrow
Yesterday Andy Burnham did a round of sit-down interviews with broadcast political editors. They were all embargoed until 5pm, which is when most Westminster journalists were on their way home after the Labour conference in Liverpool, and that meant they did not get as much pick-up as they might have done normally.
Here are some of the most interesting news lines worth recording.
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Burnham rejected claims that taxes would have to go up to fund his plan for a National Care Service. On Sunday, in his interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Burnham strongly implied tax rises would be needed. But when Sky’s Beth Rigby asked Burnham if he would have to raise taxes to implement this, Burnham replied:
No, because there’s a different way of doing it. If you delay the date of introduction and you introduce a National Care Service progressively, but you could do it in a different way … You could do it earlier. So Louise Casey, Baroness Casey is looking at all of these issues.
Burnham also said that in the long run the savings from his changes to the pensions triple lock – £15bn by 2040 – would be enough to fund his plans. But he accepted that money would not be released soon.
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Burnham claimed Brexit had led to more immigrants to the UK wanting to settle permanently. Speaking to GB News, he said:
One thing that I want to convey here is Brexit has changed the nature of immigration to this country because in the past, when we were in the European Union … what we had was a more revolving door form of migration, where people would come here in their younger years. Many people did from Eastern Europe … They’d maybe spend you know a few years here in their mid to late 20s, and then go home and start a family, and that was a very common form of immigration.
Now, immigration is more likely to be a permanent settlement, where people are coming on a visa to work here. And then we saw obviously the Boris wave and the changes that came through in that in that period. So it’s changed the nature of immigration.
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Burnham rejected claims that, by opening a debate on how to change the UK’s relationship with the EU, he was going back on a promise he made during the Makerfield byelection that he would not propose rejoining. This is a claim made by the Tories and by Nigel Farage. (See 11.02am.) On Channel 4 News, Burnham insisted that he was not proposing to reverse Brexit; he was just opening a debate. And on ITV News he said it would not be credible to publish a 10-year plan for Britain, as he plans to do later this year, without considering the UK’s relationship with the EU.
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Burnham suggested the UK could rejoin the EU without having to hold another referendum. When Gary Gibbon from Channel 4 News asked if another referendum would be needed for Britain to join, or if a government would have the authority to do that just based on a manifesto promise, Burnham told him he was “jumping the gun”. But when Gibbon asked if he was ruling out the idea that a manifesto promise might be enough, making a referendum unnecessary, Burnham replied:
I wouldn’t rule anything out at this moment in time because whatever happens has to have the full authority of the country and a majority support for it.
Speaking to the BBC, Burnham said that he wanted to have a “calm discussion about what broadly are our options here” and then see if there is” a centre of gravity or a consensus around one of them”.
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Burnham hinted that he might not wait until 2029 before holding the next election. At the end of last week, to quash speculation about an early election, Burnham explicitly told an interviewer it would be in 2029. But when Sky’s Beth Rigby asked him to confirm that he would not hold an election until 2029, he replied:
I’m not going to call an early general election, no. I’m not. I’m happy to make that absolutely clear.
An election in 2028 would not count as an early election. Arguably, one in 2027 would not count as early either.
My colleague Taz Ali is taking over the blog now. I will be back in the afternoon.
Farage claims Labour will lose votes in ‘red wall’ after Burnham’s call for new relationship with EU
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has claimed that Labour will lose voters in the “red wall” (traditional Labour areas that voted for Brexit and turned Tory in 2019) because of his call for a debate on a closer relationship with the EU, and even potentially rejoining. Speaking on GB News, Farage said that during the Makerfield byelection Burnham said he respected the Brexit vote and was not proposing rejoining the EU. He went on:
From a prime minister who says he wants to unite the country, I can’t think of anything more divisive than going back to the Brexit debate and some of the anger that would provoke.
And it certainly does not honour the promise he made the people of Makerfield when he won that byelection just a few months ago; it doesn’t pass the Makerfield test.
It will do Labour a great deal of damage in the red wall, but you can see what he’s trying to do. You know, quoting the Liberal Democrats, quoting George Osborne, almost trying to build a new coalition for us to become part of that European Union again.
Foreign Office announces fresh sanctions against Russian ‘propagandists and torturers’
The Foreign Office has announced new sanctions against Russia. It says the 31 measures include “sanctioning LNG shadow fleet vessels, Kremlin disinformation networks and perpetrators of civilian torture and child indoctrination”.
In the news release about the announcement, the Foreign Office says:
Following sham elections in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine earlier this month, the UK is now taking firm action against people and entities found to have undermined Ukraine’s territorial integrity through human rights abuses.
They include eight people involved in the arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian civilians. These abuses are part of a wider system of repression in Russia’s occupied territories, where enforced disappearance and denial of justice have also been used against Ukrainian civilians.
A further seven individuals are being targeted for their role in the indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children, including those deported by the Russian authorities. To date, an estimated 6,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly relocated to a network of heinous so-called “re-education” camps.
Annual homelessness deaths in England and Wales have almost doubled over past decade, ONS says
The Office for National Statistics has published a report today saying there were an estimated 974 deaths of people experiencing homelessness in England and Wales last year. That is almost exactly the same as the estimated figure for last year, but 77% higher than the figure for 2013.
Prisoners freed early in England and Wales risk living on the streets, say probation officers
Hundreds of prisoners are due to be released early from jail on Thursday amid warnings that many will have nowhere to live and the probation system will struggle to monitor them, Rajeev Syal reports.
Tories suggest they would cut benefits for young people if they’re living at home and parents can support them
The Conservatives have also hinted that they might cut the benefits available to young people if they are living at home and their parents can support them. They are not giving many details, but this is potentially quite a big change to the way the benefits system works. At the moment young people’s eligibility for benefits depends on their own earnings and assets; if their parents can afford to subsidise them, that is not taken into account.
The Conservative party says:
The Get to Work Allowance will also put greater emphasis on family responsibility. We will review the role of family support for young adults living at home. A university student’s access to financial support can depend on their parents’ circumstances, yet the rules for young adults claiming benefits work differently. So we will look again at how parents’ earnings and savings are treated, including where parents themselves claim universal credit. Young people without parental support, including those who are estranged, will continue to have a safety net.
What Tories say about conditions that would apply to people getting their proposed Get to Work Allowance
Here are more details from the Conservative party’s news release about the conditions that would apply to their proposed Get to Work Allowance. It says:
For the first time ever, work requirements and support will kick in immediately, as soon as a young person makes a benefits claim. Each young person will also be assigned an individual Get to Work Manager whose job it will be to make sure they get into work.
Each young person will need to complete assigned work activities to get their Get to Work Allowance each week. Activities will depend on the young person’s qualifications, experience and motivation. For instance:
-Daily attendance at a local job centre, on work experience placements, training/work readiness courses or community work schemes set up with local councils;
-Participation in job search and application workshops, and interview preparation sessions;
-Group sessions to develop the communication skills, teamwork and behaviours that employers tell us are so often missing in young job applicants.
Those who complete the Get to Work programme successfully will receive a ‘Ready for Work’ Award recording the skills they have demonstrated. After six months on Get to Work, young people still seeking to claim universal credit but not working will drop down to the Subsistence Allowance, worth 70% of their previous claim, in line with the policies announced by the Conservatives last week. This will incentivise young people to take work when they are offered it.
The party’s news release does not say what the Get to Work Allowance would be worth, or anything about the potential costs or savings from the scheme.
Badenoch proposes welfare reform that would stop many jobless under-25s getting universal credit
Good morning. The Conservatives start their conference at the weekend and Kemi Badenoch is kicking off proceedings by announcing a significant plan for welfare reform – stopping many under-25s from being able to claim universal credit, the main unemployment benefit.
Instead, they would get a new Get to Work Allowance – which would be subject to conditions from day one intended to help people find work. If after six months they are still out of work, they would go on to a new benefit, a Subsistence Allowance, worth just 70% of their previous claims.
The plans don’t relate to disability benefits, because they would only apply to people able to work.
Explaining the plans in an interview with the Spectator, Kemi Badenoch said:
It’s unfair to the people who get up and go to work, having others earn more than them for not working. Even families on benefits know that the system is out of control. But no one wants to be the one to get off the treadmill first. We need to force that. Government has to do that.
The Tories are describing this as a “tough love” approach designed to deal with the problem of around one million young people being Neets (not in employment, education or training). Tim Shipman, who interviewed Badenoch for the Spectator, has a more colourful description. “This is the nanny state with menaces; Mary Poppins with an umbrella gun,” he says.
And here is the Conservative party’s explanation of its plans from its news release.
The Conservatives will require all 18-24 year olds who attempt to claim universal credit and who have not previously worked for a continuous period of 6 months to participate in a Get to Work scheme in exchange for welfare. Participants will receive a new ‘Get to Work Allowance’ which is contingent on their participation in the scheme. To be exempt from these requirements 18-24 year olds will have to demonstrate that they have previously been in continuous employment for a period of 6 months or more, for a minimum of 16 hours a week. Young people on UC who are not subject to work-related requirements, such as for health reasons or due to caring responsibilities, will be exempt.
The programme would last up to six months. Participants could leave earlier if they secure a job, apprenticeship or qualifying education or training place.
For participants in the Get to Work Scheme, the new Get to Work Allowance will replace the universal credit standard allowance. After 6 months, if participants on the scheme have not entered work they will automatically move down to the new Subsistence Allowance announced last week by the Conservatives. This is paid at 70% of the current Standard Allowance and will be pre-loaded onto a Back to Work card that prevents claimants spending on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling. After six months they would continue to be subject to demanding conditions.
We have not heard from Labour yet, and that may be because the party is not sure yet how to respond. Alan Milburn, the former cabinet minister, has finished the final report from his inquiry into Neets and it is due to be published before the budget. He is also expected to propose measures that would impose more conditions on young people getting out-of-work benefits because he also wants to stop people being consigned to a life on benefits. And ministers are expected to adopt his plans. We don’t know the details of the Milburn/government scheme, and it will probably involve more carrot than stick than the Tory one. But there may well be quite a lot of overlap too.
I will post more on the plans, and the Badenoch interview, soon.
Parliament is not sitting, and there is not much in the Westminster diary. But Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, does have a rally at 2pm this afternoon where he will respond to Andy Burnham’s conference speech..
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