Andy Burnham vows largest prison building programme since Victorian era as system on brink of collapse

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Labour's measures include plans to 'remove foreign national offenders more quickly'

Andy Burnham's Government has vowed the largest prison building programme "since the Victorian era" as the whole system teeters on the brink of collapse.

Justice Secretary Alex Norris will tomorrow announce a £110million investment in Britain's crumbling prison system.

According to Labour, the cash will go towards speeding up the construction of hundreds of prison places, as part of Government plans to add 14,000 extra spaces by 2031 to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public safe.

Under the plans, existing space within prisons will be converted into cells to deliver much needed capacity, including through unused office space, laundry rooms and storage areas.

Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Alex Norris said: "This Government is serious about fixing the broken prison system we inherited, which is why we’ve already delivered more than 3,200 prison places in just two years.

“We’re now investing to boost these efforts further, getting spades in the ground quicker to deliver thousands more places to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public safe.”

Ministers have also announced investment to purchase new land to secure potential sites for future prisons and build a credible pipeline to enable more prison building in the future.

A contract has also been signed paving the way for the first phase of works to begin on a new 1,700 place prison on the border of Leyland and Chorley in Lancashire.

GB News understands the Lord Chancellor will update Parliament tomorrow on the prisoners release scheme, which has caused headaches for Labour.

The measures also include plans to" remove foreign national offenders more quickly, and end the historic injustice of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in a way that balances fairness and public safety".

The Justice Secretary is also set to confirm an extra £18.9million investment into "vital services for victims, providing the specialist emotional and practical support needed to help them move on with their lives."

Labour claimed this is "on top of a record £550million already announced by the Government to bolster this important support over the next three years".

It comes as a senior police chief has warned tracking people let out of prison under Labour's early release scheme will be an additional challenge on the strained resources of police officers.

Jason Hogg, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, also said he was relieved when Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed the killers of police officer Andrew Harper would not be eligible for early release.

Thames Valley officer PC Harper’s killers, as well as grooming gang members, are among those who will be blocked from early prison release under changes announced by the Prime Minister following a backlash over the scope of the scheme.

Some offenders serving indefinite jail sentences, which were abolished in 2012, will also be freed through legislation to be brought forward by the end of this Parliament, the Prime Minister pledged.

Chief constable Mr Hogg told LBC on Monday having to tag and monitor prisoners granted early release would be “difficult” for forces across the country.

He added: “The police haven’t received any additional funding for this additional work, so I’m going to be having to move resources away from one area of business to another to seek out, arrest, and bring before the court individuals who don’t follow the restrictions that they will be set.

"We don’t quite know what the demand will be on that, but I think it’ll be reasonably high, so it’s definitely more work for us."

Mr Burnham initially resisted calls to limit the scheme further after it emerged that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of PC Harper’s manslaughter in 2020, would be eligible from next year.

But under fresh changes announced on Sunday, anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, will be excluded.

Mr Hogg said he and his officers welcomed the changes, adding: "I had a phone call with the Lord Chancellor on Friday afternoon… Obviously I was very relieved."

He said: "It will be welcomed not just by me but by police officers in Thames Valley as well, because there’s been such a strength of feeling about this issue. I’m very grateful to the Government listening to this issue."