Prisoner Early Release

Debate between Jake Richards and John Cooper

Monday 29th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jake Richards]

I seem to spend half my life writing to the hon. Member, who asks a lot of questions on this issue. Let us be clear about the facts here: under the Conservative Government, only 500 places were built in 14 years. In two years, we have built 3,500 net places and we will have 14,000 by 2031. The hon. Member makes the point, “Well, some of those were apparently planned for or envisaged by the last Conservative Government.” Unless I am hallucinating, I am the one who is opening these prisons under a Labour Government.

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Soft-touch fever is spreading across the land because in Scotland, the SNP Scottish Executive are about to start releasing rapists as much as 2.5 years early. Do the Ministers on the Front Bench not realise that they are so out of touch with the public on this issue that they risk the very fundamentals of the justice system?

[Jake Richards]

The hon. Member is right that faith in the justice system is absolutely crucial. That is why the situation we inherited—the criminal justice system teetering on the brink of collapse, meaning no trials and making arrests impossible—was completely unacceptable, and we will never let that happen again.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jake Richards and John Cooper

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

T5. Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney is not often right, and he is wrong again with his slavish devotion to the European convention on human rights. If this place is to update the ECHR to make it fit for the 21st century, what steps can the Justice Secretary take to ensure that soft-touch Scotland does not become a back door for article 8 applications?

[Jake Richards]

As the Justice Secretary has already stated during oral questions, the Government are committed to the ECHR, and that includes for the whole of Great Britain. Clearly, there are issues in ensuring that that convention and our international obligations evolve with the challenges that we face as a country, which is why we are looking at how it is implemented and clarified in domestic law. We continue to work with European partners on European reform, and that includes Scotland too.