Prison Capacity

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Greg Smith

Monday 16th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. I think that was quite mild. It is all right. It could have been worse.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

There was a great deal to be welcomed in my right hon. and learned Friend’s statement, but can I unpack the capacity question? When he is successful in deporting more foreign national offenders, that will free up capacity. When he is successful in the home detention curfews and better use of technology, that will free up prison capacity, leaving the spike as the covid backlog is caught up with creating a temporary problem in capacity. Therefore, would it not be better to meet it with the temporary provision of cells in the existing prison estate, rather than going the whole hog and devastating communities such as mine in Grendon Underwood and Edgcott by building mega-prisons?

Living with Covid-19

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Greg Smith

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

The prize for patience and perseverance goes to Greg Smith.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement this afternoon. He is making the right call. Freedom works. Indeed, we should always cherish freedom, but as we have seen in the past when restrictions have been lifted, some bodies, particularly those with a union hand hovering over them, have continued with restrictions regardless. So, as we rightly lift these restrictions and allow others to lapse, can my right hon. Friend give a clear message that the turn towards personal responsibility is not a licence for those bodies to carry on with the restrictions regardless?

[The Prime Minister]

If I understand my hon. Friend correctly, he is referring to devolved Administrations—[Interruption.] I think that is what he was saying. The instinct for liberty burns just as brightly in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and I think the people of the whole United Kingdom will understand that we want a sensible, balanced and proportionate approach that moves away from legal compulsion—something that has been quite extraordinary for these times—and in favour of people being considerate towards others and taking personal responsibility.