Key facts
- Ministers Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood apologized after being recorded making jokes about an early prisoner release scheme.
- Streeting's comment, "He wants to let them all out," was apparently a reference to the government's early release plans.
- The early release scheme, due to start in September under the new Sentencing Act, includes no exemptions for serious crimes.
- Victims' groups and the mother of murdered police officer Andrew Harper have expressed outrage over the comments and the policy.
- Streeting and Mahmood stated there was no ill intent and acknowledged the seriousness of the issue.
Ministers Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood have apologized after being caught on camera making what victims of crime have described as "cheap jokes" about an upcoming early prisoner release scheme. The comments, published by Guido Fawkes, occurred as new Justice Secretary Alex Norris approached them.
In the recording, Streeting could be heard saying, "He wants to let them all out," followed by laughter, which he later explained as a reference to an old joke between Theresa May and Ken Clarke. Mahmood also apologized, stating her levity was not intended to undermine the seriousness of the issue, which she noted was exacerbated by the "vandalism" of the justice system by the previous Conservative government.
However, victims' groups have reacted with anger. The early release scheme, set to begin in September under the new Sentencing Act, will include no exemptions for prisoners convicted of serious crimes, domestic abuse, or terrorism. Victims' Commissioner Claire Waxman, Domestic Abuse Commissioner, and Ciara Bergman, CEO of Rape Crisis England and Wales, have warned that the policy puts abuse victims at risk and is a matter of "life and death" for survivors. Jade Belgrove, a child rape survivor, expressed her fury, stating that seeing ministers laugh at victims' pain causes further heartbreak. Debbie Adlam, mother of murdered police officer Andrew Harper, called the potential release of the men responsible for her son's death an "insult."
Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader, criticized the Labour cabinet's "joking" while promising to fight the policy, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stated that Streeting's apology was appropriate.