Ashley Fox
Main Page: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)Department Debates - View all Ashley Fox's debates with the Ministry of Justice
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Ashley Fox Excerpts(1 day, 11 hours ago)
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Jake Richards
My hon. Friend is right. I can confirm, as the Prime Minister and the Justice Secretary have at this Dispatch Box, that rapists will not be subject to the new regime. My hon. Friend is also right that constituents like his and mine expect us to meet this challenge by building more prison places. That is why we are investing in 14,000 new prison places by 2031. There will be more criminals behind bars at the end of this Parliament under a Labour Government.
Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)
The Minister will know that all of the 3,000 new prison places that have come online since the election were initiated by the last Conservative Government. Will he tell the House why this Government have not planned or approved any new prison spaces since they came to office?
Jake Richards
We hear this a lot—Conservative Members saying, “Well, we didn’t do anything for 14 years, we didn’t spend much money, and then in the final few months we thought, gosh, we have a prison capacity crisis, we had better start planning, and then we called an election.” It is absolutely hopeless. What we are doing constitutes the biggest prison building programme since the Victorian era, with 14,000 places by 2031. The Conservatives’ policy chief has apologised for their record on criminal justice, as has the Leader of the Opposition. Will the hon. Gentleman do so?