Well, it was phase two of the early prisoner release scheme, with 1100 prisoners being released from jails all around the country, having served approximately 40 per cent of their terms.
Drug dealers, burglars, people like that.
All of this was explained in the House of Commons by Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary.
She said: “The crisis in our prisons was, I believe, the greatest disgrace of the last conservative government. They left our prisons on the point of collapse, a situation that would have forced us to close the prison doors, cancel all trials and force the police to halt their arrests.
Nigel Farage reacts to more prisoners being released under Labour’s scheme
GB News
“Crime would have gone unpunished. Victims would never have seen justice done, and we would have witnessed the total breakdown of law and order.
“The former prime minister knew he had to act. His Lord Chancellor begged him to do so, but instead he called an election.”
Well, there you go. It’s all the fault of the other lot.
And we did, of course, once again see some celebratory scenes from around the country.
It’s people giving thumbs up to the cameras, and everybody’s incredibly happy. And on particular fella shouted ‘big up Starmer’.
So Keir Starmer is clearly very popular with that particular community. But is it a good idea? Does it make sense?
It’s pretty remarkable that of the 1,750 people that were let out and this took place, if you remember, back in September, in some parts of the country, according to Mark Fergus, the national chair of the Prison Officers Association, in some parts of the country, the recall rate is already as high as 50 per cent.
Now, I think to be fair, to be fair, the Justice Secretary does have a fair point.
The Conservatives should have built more prisons, but he is releasing people on this scale, perhaps without any thought of where they’re even going to go.
Is it a good idea?