Badenoch calls for emergency legislation to stop early release scheme

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to bring in emergency legislation in order to stop the early release of hundreds of prisoners.

Burnham announced last week that he was pausing the scheme, which would have seen about 700 prisoners freed in the first phase in September, following a backlash from survivors and victims.

But the Conservatives say the government’s review will not stop offenders being released.

The scheme was part of a bid to stop unprecedented overcrowding, which Labour says was caused by Conservative governments failing to build new prisons.

A Labour spokesperson said: “It’s this government that is fixing the Tories’ mess.”

On Tuesday, Burnham said: “It is a challenging situation and we shouldn’t actually be in this position as a country, but we have to deal with the reality of where we are.

“But I will do anything I can to minimise risk to the public and that is why I am looking again and why I have put the release plan for September on hold and we’ll make further statements on this in due course.”

Early release was used by the Conservative government, external in 2023 because of prison overcrowding, first for 18 and then 70 days, and 10,000 prisoners had been released early by June 2024 – before Labour came to power.

When Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street in July 2024, there were fewer than 100 spare prison places across the adult male estate, which is what prompted the Sentencing Act to release another 6,000 prisoners early from September.

While the act already excludes some of the most serious and dangerous offenders, such as murderers serving life sentences or those on extended sentences, the eligibility for early release is based on the length of fixed sentence, external, rather than the type of offence.

That means some criminals convicted of serious sexual and violent offences who have a fixed release date will leave prison earlier than they had expected – although subject to monitoring and risk of recall to prison.

Badenoch is calling on Burnham to fast-track legislation to keep serious offenders behind bars.

Speaking at a press conference alongside victims who could be impacted by the changes, the Conservative leader said: “It’s quite clear that the prime minister sees that this is a problem, but I don’t think he knows what to do about it.”

She said she was concerned the pause would be “yet another thing where there will be warm words and nothing happens”.

Without emergency legislation, Badenoch says dangerous offenders will start to be released the day after MPs return to Parliament after the summer recess on Tuesday 1 September.

She is calling on Burnham to revoke legislation coming into effect on 2 September and if necessary recall Parliament to ensure the worst violent and sexual offenders are exempted from early release.

Asked if the problem of prison overcrowding was a failing of the last Conservative government, she said the “crisis” had been “long time coming”.

“We did something, it wasn’t enough, I’m sorry about that,” she said, adding: “I can’t fix the past, what I can do is come up with solutions.”

She said that to solve the problem of prison overcrowding in the long-run, the public needed to accept that some prisons would have to be built in their communities.

She also urged the government to consider renting prison places overseas.

Successive UK governments have explored the idea of sending prisoners to Estonia, however in 2025 the BBC was told that Conservative and Labour ministers had decided the plans would be too expensive.

Earlier this month, the Conservative front bench sought to put pressure on the government to rethink the earlier release plans, saying that it would mean some rapists would leave prison sooner than expected.

The government stood by the plan, saying it was a political choice to manage offenders on strict conditions in the community, rather than see the collapse of the system, leaving sex offenders and others to act with impunity.

Burnham’s decision to pause the scheme came after criticism from the family of Thames Valley Police officer Andrew Harper, who was killed in Berkshire in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road by three teenagers.

Two of the killers of PC Harper, who were both sentenced to 13 years in prison, would have benefited from the scheme from June 2027, when the longest fixed sentences would have been added.

PC Harper’s widow Lissie called the plans “deplorable” and said politicians were “making decisions from behind a desk that will have real and lasting consequences” for the families of victims.

Defending the review of the Sentencing Act that has been announced by Burnham, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Conservatives have some nerve.

“During their 14 years in office, they shut 23 prisons, created just 482 jail places, and granted early release to 10,000 prisoners – leaving the criminal justice system teetering on verge of collapse.

“It’s this government that is fixing the Tories’ mess. We have already delivered over 3,000 prison places and we’re investing billions to deliver thousands more.”

Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller MP said: “The reality is that in a properly functioning justice system, no victim or loved ones should ever be told that their perpetrator is being released earlier than expected.

“Unfortunately, the Conservatives left our prisons on the brink of collapse, creating a capacity crisis that required emergency action to keep the system functioning and the public safe.

“Now that the government claims to have increased prison capacity, there is a clear opportunity for Burnham to correct some of the mistakes made by his predecessors with this scheme.”

Reform UK’s Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said the “disastrous” policy had been introduced by the Tories, and Badenoch had in 2024 supported efforts to expand it.

“It’s clear that only one party has consistently opposed early release and proposed strong law and order reforms to ensure hardened criminals are locked up for the full duration of their sentences,” Yusuf said in a statement.

“Only Reform UK will fix lawless Britain,” the party’s Home Affairs spokesperson added.