READ MORE: PC Harper's mother fires warning shot across BurnhamSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy MARTIN BECKFORD, POLICY EDITOR Published: 00:03 BST, 13 August 2026 | Updated: 00:44 BST, 13 August 2026
Labour has admitted it has not planned to build any new jails since coming to power despite sounding the alarm regarding overcrowding. Ministers announced within weeks of taking office in July 2024 that huge numbers of criminals would have to be set free early to create more space behind bars amid riots triggered by the Southport murders. Now, under the early release scheme, thousands more will be allowed out after serving just a third of their sentences – prompting a scramble by Andy Burnham to exempt rapists and the killers of PC Andrew Harper. But it has emerged that despite warning about the lack of prison places for two years, and blaming the crisis on the Tories, the Labour Government has not set out proposals to build any more jails. A recent written Parliamentary answer by Justice Minister Jake Richards revealed: 'No new prisons have been (a) planned or (b) approved since July 5, 2024 [the day Keir Starmer moved into No 10].'Under a Prison Capacity Strategy set out in December 2024, Labour aims to create 14,000 more places by 2031 in what the minister described as 'four new prisons'. However, the sites had been announced by the Tories in June 2020 and include HMP Millsike, which has already opened its doors. Another of the long-planned jails, HMP Welland Oaks, is not due to open until 2029, while construction has not begun on the other two. Despite warning about the lack of prison places for two years, Andy Burnham's Government has not set out proposals to build any more jails It comes after the early release scheme was heavily criticised for allowing thousands of killers - including the murderers of PC Andrew Harper (pictured with his wife, Lissie) - to potentially be released from prison after serving just a third of their sentences Where's the minister? The Prisons Minister has been accused of going missing during the early-release crisis.Catherine McKinnell was appointed on July 21, but she has not commented since about Labour's plan to release thousands of prisoners early, or the PM's subsequent U-turns.Hours after the Mail contacted the Government, Ms McKinnell, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, posted on social media photos of herself outside a court and a prison. She wrote: 'Three weeks. Four visits. A lot of conversations.' On Tuesday Mr Burnham said he was now confident PC Harper's killers would stay locked up. Meanwhile, it was revealed that 1,800 prison cells lie empty due to fire hazards. Gemma Abbott, the legal director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: 'It has been more than two decades since the Government first acknowledged the fire safety shortcomings that continue to blight our prisons, and there have been nine fire-related deaths in public prisons since then. 'Whilst the chaos of the implementation of the Sentencing Act [early release scheme] has understandably drawn ire from across the board, we cannot forget that many of those who remain locked up in prison – and the staff who work there – are being exposed to intolerable fire safety risk.'
