A Tory frontbencher was left fumbling on Tuesday morning when Sky News’ Kay Burley called out the Conservatives’ role in the prison crisis.
Mel Stride, the shadow work and pensions secretary, tried to criticise the new government’s decision to release some low-risk offenders early because prisons are nearing maximum capacity.
Labour say they were forced into this decision because the Conservatives had kicked the can down the road when they were in office.
So, Burley said to Stride: “This has happened because you were not dealing with prisoner overcrowding properly.”
“Well, we brought in tougher sentences, Kay, which of course increase the prison population,” Stride replied, before pointing to the backlogs triggered by Covid.
He then tried to attack Labour for allegedly not warning enough victims that their perpetrators are about to be released, but Burley deflected the interview back to the Tory legacy.
She said: “I’m sure you’re not criticising the government for releasing 1,700 prisoners because of course you released 10,000 to ease the capacity in prisons.”
The ministry of justice revealed in July that the government had let out 10,000 prisoners – who had served at least 50% of their sentence – early between October 17 last year and June 30.
Stride suggested there were “different ways to address these kinds of problems”, adding: “We did have a very clear plan for building new prisons and increasing capacity.”
“You had 14 years!” Burley pointed out.
He replied: “The kinds of pressures we are seeing in the system have to be dealt with, and we accept that. I’ve explained how we had the Covid issue and how we had greater sentences and so on –”
Burley replied: ”[Covid] didn’t stop you building prisons. Did it? It wouldn’t stop you building prisons.”
“What matters now is the way this government actually acts,” Stride replied, trying to move the conversation on.
But, Burley refused to give up, saying: “How would it stop you building prisons? How did Covid stop you building prisons? It didn’t, no.”
Stride suggested the pandemic altered the demand for the service, but Burley replied: “Should have built prisons before then!
“You were already in power for 10 years by the time Covid came along. You could have built prisons before then. That’s the point.”