More than 1,000 criminals could avoid prison this year due to a lack of places, the Labour Party has warned.
As it stands, there are only 971 prison spaces left in the system - prompting Labour to accuse the government of"dither and delay".The party says that of the £4bn allocated to build new prison places, only £1.3bn had been spent so far. Steve Reed, Labour's shadow justice secretary, said prisons were"turning criminals away because the Conservatives failed to build the cells they promised".
"To make matters worse, criminals who do end up in jail have been allowed to run riot with violence and drug abuse spiralling out of control, driving up reoffending rates."Labour is the party of law and order. In government will get on and deliver the prison places we need to ensure that dangerous criminals are where they belong - behind bars.