Four new prisons to be built but space could still run out, minister warns – UK politics live

Demand rising faster than any supply ‘could possibly catch up with’, justice secretary says

Good morning. Labour inherited many problems with public services when it took office, but few were worse than the prison overcrowding crisis. This was so dire that it prompted Rishi Sunak into holding an early election. With the Ministry of Justice just days away from ordering a fresh early release system (which would have been unpopular with voters), this was one of the main reasons for Sunak holding the election in July, not last autumn.

Today, as part of the government’s response, Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is announcing plans to create 14,000 prison places by 2031. PA Media sums up the plans here.

The government has said it will build four new prisons within the next seven years in a bid to grip the overcrowding crisis.

The Ministry of Justice promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031.

Demand is still rising faster than any supply could possibly catch up with. We’re very honest and transparent in the strategy itself that building alone is not enough because the demand is rising more quickly.

The demand for prison places is actually 4,500 extra every single year. Even with the emergency measures that I’ve been forced to take, that’s 3,000 every year, we can’t get there just by building alone. That’s why I set up the sentencing review just a few weeks ago, because we need a longer term solution.

We will run out, because even all of that new supply, with the increase in prison population that we will see as a result of that new supply, doesn’t help you with the rise in demand, because demand is still rising faster than any supply could possibly catch up with.

I would say to, trade unions and everybody else, that this is the start of that process, and of course I would hope that they recognise that the government’s fiscal inheritance has been extremely difficult, and we do have to make sure that the books overall balance as well, and that pay is on a sustainable footing.

This is the start of that process, and I wouldn’t want to get ahead of where we think the pay review bodies might ultimately make their recommendations.