The 14,000 spaces the Prime Minister has committed to by 2031 are nowhere near enough to deal with the scale of crime this country is experiencing, writes the shadow Justice Secretary

Andy Burnham has confirmed that two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers will be released from prison early. The Justice Secretary, Alex Norris, has apologised to his widow, telling her “I’m very sorry we are in this situation”.

After months of Conservative pressure on the Government, Labour have announced a partial U-turn on their plan to release criminals from prison early. But even under their new plans, thousands of criminals, including paedophiles, killers and sexual and domestic abusers, will still be eligible for early release.

In a statement today, Burnham said Labour have no choice. But we have heard this from Labour ministers before – when we campaigned to keep violent and sexual offenders behind bars, we were told it was impossible. Yet somehow the Government has managed to reverse its release plans for some offenders. If saying there was no choice last month was untrue then, why should anyone believe them now?

Harper’s widow Lissie, who campaigned bravely for Harper’s Law – which introduced tougher sentences for killers of emergency workers – has said she is “beyond appalled” that his killers will be released.

Yet Burnham had the audacity today to claim he has acted “by trying to put myself in the shoes of victims of crime and seeing things through their eyes.”

Labour told us their disastrous Sentencing Act would not apply to the worst offenders, and that “those convicted of the most serious crimes will be unaffected and will remain in prison for as long as they do now.”

After the former prisons minister, Lord Timpson, said it was “impossible to know” who exactly would be released, we calculated that 2,500 rapists and paedophiles alone would be eligible. We listened to victims, meeting them in Parliament and ensuring their voice was heard.

We inflicted the first parliamentary defeat on the Government since the general election, when the House voted to exclude violent and sexual offenders from the release programme. The Prime Minister abstained.

To say the most serious offenders would be excluded was a lie then, and it remains a lie now. That’s why I presented a Bill to Parliament last month that would exclude all violent and sexual offenders from being let out early. My party has urged the Government to adopt these proposals, and pledged to support them if they bring forward emergency legislation in September. So far, Labour have not responded.

Their press announcement doubled down on tired assurances about enhanced tagging, strict licence conditions and building new prison places. But the 14,000 spaces the Prime Minister has committed to by 2031 are just a reannouncement of existing plans – style over substance, as it’s rapidly becoming clear is Burnham’s approach to politics. And it’s nowhere near enough to deal with the scale of crime this country is experiencing.

The truth is, early release is an example of the Civil Service’s greatest hits – an administrative fudge from the perspective of the Ministry of Justice, but a disaster for real victims and for public safety throughout the country. And Labour were always going to go along with it, as we know from their record that they are ideologically anti-prison. Only when public pressure became unsustainable did they U-turn, as Burnham sought to save face and score an early political victory. But it’s a half-measure, and as the release of PC Harper’s killers is making clear, it’s far from enough to stem the public’s justified outrage.

There is an alternative plan. In the first week of the new parliamentary term in September, Labour could adopt the Conservatives’ proposed legislation and stop the release of all serious violent and sexual offenders, like the killers of PC Harper. We would support them in doing so. Early release has already become a debacle – we urge the Government to move quickly to put the public first, and keep dangerous killers behind bars.