𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Tuesday is the first day back in Parliament after the summer recess and new Prime Minister Andy Burnham will be neck deep in a political storm of Labour’s making – their prisoner early release scheme. Burnham tried to take the sting out of the policy at the weekend by announcing PC Harper’s killers won’t be amongst those being released early from prison after all, along with those jailed for manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving and those convicted of indecent assault and the death of a child.

But the controversy rages on. The 2026 Sentencing Act, that starts tomorrow, is one of the biggest acts of self harm a government has ever inflicted upon its citizens. Since September 2024 Labour has already released more than 70,000 prisoners early – that’s the same as the population of the town of Rugby – with another 6,000 on the way.

No country can cope with that number of criminals being allowed out of jail early. It’s not just about the number of criminals being back on the streets, which in itself is overwhelming police forces and the probation services, it’s the message it sends to every wannabe criminal. Crime pays. Already gangs steal from shops with impunity and the UK’s high streets are packed with illegal vape and barber shops. Britain is becoming lawless and criminals feel untouchable.

Nowhere is this breakdown of order more visible than in Middlesbrough. The place already holds the grim title of the highest-crime area in the UK outside central London, registering a shocking 150 crimes per 1,000 members of the population.

It is also where last week five young lads, four of whom already had a total of 37 convictions, reportedly drove the wrong way up the A66 killing two police officers and leaving them all dead. Following this, the local area erupted into a chaotic cycle of gang retaliation, community terror, and a massive police clampdown.

Locals says it’s like living in a war zone. The law-abiding residents barricade themselves behind close doors while criminals rule the neighbourhoods. Business owners and politicians echo this panic, with local Labour MP Andy McDonald characterising the gang tactics as nothing short of terrorism. And into this already volatile environment, Labour has already funnelled an estimated 200 to 220 more criminals back onto these streets early, and more are on their way leaving a community terrified and vulnerable to reoffending.

Cleveland’s Labour Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey has written seven letters to the government since July 2024, pleading for emergency help. Five of those formal requests were ignored leading to the recent deadly outbreak of violence.

You can’t keep letting criminals out of prison early and think there are no consequences. Unless this Labour government wants every city to be like Middlesbrough where the criminals rule the streets and where residents are held up like hostages in their own homes, they need to scrap this Sentencing Act, not tell the public it’s necessary as prisons are close to being full.

This government needs to buy prison cell places abroad, return foreign criminals and build emergency Nightingale Prisons. That is the solution, emptying prisons into local communities is not.