Labour accused of 'completely mishandling' early release scheme with Andy Burnham now 'paying the price'
The Prime Minister has said it is 'not possible to simply exclude one or two offenders' amid outrage over the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers
The Prime Minister has said it is 'not possible to simply exclude one or two offenders' amid outrage over the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers
The Labour Government has been lambasted for "completely mishandling" the creation and execution of their early release prison scheme.
Speaking to GB News, police and crime commentator Danny Shaw argued Prime Minister Andy Burnham is now "paying the price" for "inheriting the mess" that is the legislation.
Taking aim at ex-Justice Secretary David Lammy, Mr Shaw said: "I think the Government has completely mishandled this, and by Government I mean David Lammy when he was Justice Secretary.
"You can't blame Andy Burnham, he's inherited this mess. They completely mishandled the way they devised the early release scheme."
Mr Shaw argued there should have been clear exclusions for dangerous criminals from the scheme "from the start".
He told GB News: "They should have, at the beginning, had a starting point to say that violent criminals and sex offenders would not benefit from early release, which means that perhaps more non-violent offenders would be released or have to be released even earlier in order to accommodate them.
"That's what they should have done, and they didn't, and now they're paying the price for that."
Turning to the issue of PC Andrew Harper's killers being eligible for early release, Mr Shaw said there is some "imagination required" by the Government to exclude the two offenders from being released.
He explained: "I think some imagination is required to unlock this issue with PC Harper's killers.
"I really do believe that there is sufficient room that can be provided in prisons to ensure that people convicted of manslaughter serving fixed-term sentences of 10 years plus - I think there's about 200 of them in the system at the moment -There should be space to keep those people in prison."
Discussing newly announced policy from Reform UK to deport prisoners to third country prisons, Mr Shaw stressed there are "nuances and difficulties" in implementing such legislation.
He said: "The harsh realities of governing are becoming clearer now to Andy Burnham. I'm sure he knew of that beforehand, but there was obviously a honeymoon period for a week or so, and yet it's hard decisions and difficult situations and difficult problems that other Governments have failed to resolve.
"The problem of sending foreign national offenders away is rather different. There's a complete commitment and a will to get them out of the country, but also you have to think of victims.
"How would a victim feel if, for example, someone is jailed for eight years and after a year they're removed to a foreign country and you don't know if they're going to be imprisoned there?"
Mr Shaw continued: "You also have to have the receiving countries prepared to take them, but if there's an agreement with a third country for people to be removed, to spend their time in prison there, where undoubtedly the costs are going to be less than the £53,000 per prisoner per year it costs in the UK, then I'm all for that, but I just think there are practical issues.
"It's much easier when you're in opposition to suggest solutions, you don't have the same scrutiny, you don't have to put your plan into practice.
"The reality is that when Nigel Farage enters Downing Street, he's going to be held to the promises that he's making now."
Mr Burnham’s spokesman has said manslaughter of an emergency worker was "not a standalone offence" and it was "not possible to simply exclude one or two offenders" within the wider category of manslaughter.
The spokesman said: "I think you’ve seen from the Prime Minister’s words that he’s far from accepting the situation and as he wrote last week he wants to go even further.
"He’s pushed hard on what more we could do and his focus now is on fixing the prison system long term to avoid a repeat of this prison crisis so that it never happens again."