DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Hysteria won't solve this prisons crisis
Just a few short days ago, it felt as though we were living in a stable, civilised society. We've had our ups and downs in recent times, of course, but the streets seemed generally safe to walk.
What deluded fools we were. Little did we know we were on the edge of a crime apocalypse. Or so new Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told us yesterday.
In language tipping into hysteria, she claimed that because of a critical shortage of prison accommodation, we were facing 'a total breakdown of law and order'.
With barely any cells available to detain them, criminals would have complete licence to roam free. 'We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight,' she said.
And who's to blame for leading us towards this Mad Max-style dystopia? You guessed it – it's the Tories, for locking up too many crooks and not building enough prisons.
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood used rhetoric that bordered on hysteria as she said we were facing 'a total breakdown of law and order' because of a shortage of prison space
Ms Mahmood on a visit to HMP Bedford. The government plans to free thousands more inmates after they have served just 40 per cent of their sentence
And how does Ms Mahmood propose to avert this orgy of crime? Give early release to thousands of criminals, of course, because that's how to maintain law and order.
This kind of feverish scaremongering really does insult the intelligence.
Just imagine if Suella Braverman or Priti Patel had used similar language to justify a dubious and unpopular policy. The broadcast media would be after their heads.
Is this kind of panic-stricken rhetoric really what we have to look forward to for the next five years? It may be just about acceptable in opposition, but government calls for cool heads and hard logic.
In its manifesto, Labour criticised the Tories for releasing some prisoners up to 70 days early to ease overcrowding, saying it was 'a potential risk to the public'.
Yet now Ms Mahmood plans to free thousands more after serving just 40 per cent of their sentence. It's ludicrous.
Previous amnesties have led to huge increases in offending, not least because they sent out the message to perpetrators that they can act with impunity. The Tory release scheme saw re-offending rates of up to 50 per cent.
The Starmer manifesto also said: 'Victims must have faith that justice will be delivered, and criminals will be punished.' What a sick joke that has become.
As ever with Labour, it's soft on crime, soft on the causes of crime.
Channel toll rises
Of all the empty promises made during the election campaign, perhaps the least plausible was Labour's pledge to 'smash the gangs' who profit from trafficking migrants across the Channel.
For years, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has castigated the Government for failing to tackle the problem. Now she is the Government, and the problem is hers.
The bodies of four migrants picked up off the French coast yesterday were a stark reminder of its scale and urgency. And it won't be solved by her shiny new quango.
Labour's pledge to 'smash the gangs' whop profit from trafficking migrants across the Channel was one of its most empty of the campaign. The bodies of four migrants rescued by a vessel off the French coast yesterday were a stark reminder of the scale of the problem
Labour has now scrapped the Rwanda scheme, and with it the only real deterrent to the small boats. So far, the party has offered no fresh ideas and is suggesting nothing which hasn't already been tried without success.
Since 2018, more than 200 men, women and children have died in the capricious waters of the world's busiest sea-lane. Without decisive action, that grim toll is sure to go on rising, with all the grief and human misery it entails.
Ms Cooper must understand that promises and platitudes are no longer enough. With power comes responsibility.
