Connor Naismith
Main Page: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)Department Debates - View all Connor Naismith's debates with the Ministry of Justice
Prisoner Early Release Scheme
Connor Naismith Excerpts(1 day, 13 hours ago)
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Jake Richards
The hon. Member has raised that point on a number of occasions when we have had the opportunity to debate this issue. He is right that we need to look at how we can fast-track planning infrastructure projects of real national importance, such as prisons, and I know that the Prisons Minister and the Justice Secretary are keeping a close eye on that. I just gently push back that some of the hon. Member’s colleagues on the Conservative Benches spend a lot of their time opposing the building of prisons in their constituencies. The hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston (Neil O’Brien), who has apologised for the Conservatives’ record on criminal justice, spends a lot of time opposing the building of the prison in his constituency.
Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)
The reality is that there would not be an early release scheme if the Conservatives had not presided over a record that left our prisons at 99% capacity, having built a staggeringly low 500 places in their 14 years in government. My constituents are angry about the situation in which we find ourselves, so will the Minister set out the steps the Government are taking to reassure victims and to ensure that we never end up in this situation again?
Jake Richards
My hon. Friend is right, and I can set out clearly what we are doing. By the end of this Parliament, there will be more criminals behind bars than ever before under a Labour Government. That is because this Government are spending three times more on prison building than the Conservatives ever did. The Conservative Government closed 23 prisons; we are building 14,000 places. That is the difference between a Labour Government and a Conservative Government.