Britain's summer of discontent
Last year, riots sparked by the brutal murder of three young girls at a dance class in Southport rocked the UK. Rioters targeted hotels housing asylum seekers, wrongly connecting the murders to Muslim immigration. Now, asylum protests persist.
At the same time, the government faces strike action from NHS doctors, a struggling economy and political threats from both left and right.
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Rachel Cunliffe is joined by Anoosh Chakelian and George Eaton.
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Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Report: Britain's prisons 'on the brink of collapse' while Sunak was PM
Britain's prison system was on the brink of collapse on three occasions while Rishi Sunak was prime minister, according to a damning report. Dame Ann Owers, a former chief inspector of prisons, found the criminal justice system had been 'in crisis' for more than 18 months under the Tory government. In her review, commissioned by Labour 's Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Dame Ann revealed that senior officials even feared riots if jails ran out of space. She also disclosed that top civil servants 'were so concerned' about a breakdown that they kept 'an audit' of all decision-making and documents in case of a future inquiry. Following Labour's general election victory in July 2024, Ms Mahmood implemented a new early release scheme in order to tackle prison overcrowding. This saw her cut the proportion of a sentence that inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent. But prisons in England and Wales are still around 98 per cent full. HM Prison and Probation Service says it cannot run the estate efficiently at over 95 per cent capacity. In her report, published today, Dame Ann described an 18-month 'permacrisis' in the criminal justice system while Mr Sunak was in Downing Street. Dame Ann criticized the previous Tory government for only doing 'just enough to avert breakdown and buy time until the next predictable cliff edge was reached'. She revealed how, in May 2024 following the announcement of the general election, senior officials discussed 'contingency plans in case the criminal justice system collapsed during the election campaign because prisons were unable to take in any more prisoners'. 'This could involve invoking emergency powers under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to release prisoners early, in order to avert the risk of public disorder,' she added. 'The risk was real: at one point there were fewer than 100 places in adult male prisons. 'However, the system had in fact been in crisis for over eighteen months. From 2023 onwards, prisons were running very close to the edge of capacity. 'On three occasions, this was only pulled back at the last minute by the use of early release schemes, gradually decreasing the amount of time many prisoners spent in custody, using powers designed to allow release on compassionate grounds. 'Senior officials were so concerned about a potential breakdown in the criminal justice system that an audit was kept of all decision making and documents, in case there was a public or parliamentary inquiry.' In a further criticism of the previous government's handling of the crisis, Dame Ann continued: 'Although departmental ministers were convinced by mid-2023 that some form of early release was both necessary and urgent, this required Prime Ministerial agreement, which was not forthcoming until the system was within three days of potential collapse, and only in incremental stages.' She also said that, while conducting her review, many of those she spoke to 'expressed frustration and sometimes anger at the reluctance to accept and then act on the well-documented and imminent crisis, or to agree any coherent plan to avert it'. 'Many believed that the default position was to do as little as possible as late as possible, with the consequence that the system repeatedly reached the brink of collapse, rather than accepting the inevitable and getting ahead of the crisis,' Dame Ann added. In October 2023, then justice secretary Alex Chalk announced some 'less serious offenders' could be freed from prison up to 18 days before their automatic release date. This was then increased to 60 days in March 2024 and then to 70 days in May 2024. Ms Mahmood said: 'This report lays bare the disgraceful way the last Conservative government ran our prisons. 'They added less than 500 cells to the prison estate over 14 years, released over 10,000 prisoners early under a veil of secrecy, and brought our jails close to total collapse on countless occasions.' Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: 'This review into prison capacity spells out in forensic detail how the Government has found itself facing the prospect of running out of cells. 'It is a crisis, or more accurately a series of crises, that has been brewing over several decades and across successive governments.' A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'In office, the Conservatives rightly listened to the public demand to see criminals punished with proper sentences, and to tackle the capacity issues we had plans to use prisons abroad. 'Labour scrapped those plans and instead chose to release violent criminals back on our streets. 'Labour aren't serious about tackling these issues. They blocked our deportation bill that would have mandated the deportation of all foreign criminals. 'Whilst Labour and Reform want shorter sentences, the Conservatives will make no apology for ensuring that heinous criminals are kept off our streets and behind bars.'
New Statesman
17 minutes ago
- New Statesman
The Gaza movement will never forgive Labour
Photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures On Monday evening (4 August), the pro-Palestine movement unleashed a 'siege on Labour'. Located on a side street in south London, its party headquarters is an unassuming, dusty-brown office block. But, surrounded by a mass of keffiyehs, flags and badges organised by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the area became a cacophony of noise – and confrontation. The protesters came bearing two key messages: that Labour is complicit in the destruction wrought on Gaza, and that David Lammy must resign as Foreign Secretary. There was a vengeful mood. Several carried a banner reading, 'Labour supports genocide,' decorated with fresh, blood-red handprints. With the parliamentary summer recess in full flow, there was barely anyone affiliated with the party to take notice of the groups who massed at 15 of its key offices across the country. Those suited office workers that did happen to be present merely looked on awkwardly through the glass frontage. The protestors did face some opposition: chants of 'From the river, to the sea…' were met by a piercing siren purposefully set off by a disgruntled neighbour in a nearby block of flats, and lone man with a thin mohawk and skin-tight jeans also showed up to counter-protest. Both were soon crowded out by the size and noise of the demonstration. 'History will judge Labour on this,' one of the event's leading speakers, Cat, told me as she used her keffiyeh to cover her hair in the early-evening drizzle. 'They have collaborated with war criminals. They have allowed crimes against humanity to take place under their watch, knowing what was going on.' This is the voice of newly radicalised politics, one who may never forgive the Labour party – or mainstream politics altogether. While support for Palestine was universal among those who turned up, there was a split over which MPs were adequately on the side of the cause. Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, 'even the Tory, Kit Malthouse' – who has strongly criticised Labour's response to the war – drew praise from one protester, who cited the incoming Corbyn-Sultana party as an example of 'people-powered movements rising up'. But another declared that British politics is laden with 'imperialist parties', and that 'we've never seen a Labour MP [truly] defend the Palestinian people in their resistance-struggle.' Not even Corbyn? 'When you look at the Labour Party under Corbyn, it's the same [as now].' But while this movement has few parliamentary allies, it knows who its opponents are. 'The Palestine liberation movement needs to up its game,' Seema, a protestor, told me. 'We can't just be doing A-to-B protests, we have to show who the real enemy is.' This mentality was what drove a separate group of protesters to the heart of Tottenham, where they crowded by the metal gate that leads to David Lammy's constituency office. The mood was persecutory. 'Down with the Labour Party!' was the cry when I arrived. It soon turned to 'David Lammy, be afraid / We will see you at the Hague.' In the judgement of these protestors, Lammy is a collaborator with Israel, the personification of Labour's feeble response to the war, and its half commitment to a Palestinian state. His name came up more often in my conversations with protestors than Keir Starmer, despite the Prime Minister's own missteps on the issue. There is equal ill-feeling towards Wes Streeting; on the same evening as the Tottenham demonstration, protestors also took to the Health Secretary's constituency office in Ilford, nine miles down the road. And while these protests have an emotional temper, they reflect a real political splintering. 'I think there's anger, but I also think there's sober analysis. People have woken up,' Nihal, one of Palestinian Youth Movement organisers, told me. These protesters face a dual anxiety: fear for the potential of personal repercussions (seen in the ubiquity of face-coverings); and fear of the power of the security services, exacerbated by the proscription of Palestine Action in July. But those present last night were resolute. If the government bans an organisation, 'new ones will just keep turning up', Nihal said. 'Even with today's protest, people have called it violent. They've called it bullying, when we're just standing outside of a public servant's office, calling for accountability in a very peaceful manner. With all the pearl-clutching, you'd think that we'd be doing something that is beyond the pale. This is normal protesting in a functioning democracy.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe That may be so, but it is reflective of a restive public consciousness. In the final Cabinet meeting before Parliament split for the summer, Labour's frontbenchers fretted over the prospect of a 'summer of discontent'. From the protests outside asylum hotels to this very different display – a mass movement against British foreign policy – that summer is quickly coming to pass. Though Lammy and key figures from Labour weren't around to hear this summer's latest remonstration, they didn't need to be. They already know – and the discontent shows no sign of ending. [Further reading: Palestine Action and the distortion of terrorism] Related
Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
It's marrow wars! Jeremy Corbyn battles Angela Rayner over Labour's sell-off of England's allotments
has hit out at Angela Rayner for allowing cash-strapped local councils to sell off allotments. The former Labour leader accused the Deputy Prime Minister of putting 'the nail in the coffin' for the 'precious' community spaces. Mr Corbyn, the MP for Islington North who has launched a new left-wing party to rival Labour, is a keen gardener and uses an allotment near his north London home. He has gone to war with Ms Rayner after it was revealed the Deputy PM had agreed for eight allotment sites across England to be sold since last year's general election. The veteran politician lashed out at Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, for approving the slew of allotment sales. So-called 'statutory' allotment sites owned by local councils are protected from development or sale under the Allotment Act 1925, except with ministerial sign-off. In an article for The Telegraph, Mr Corbyn - who has previously descibed marrows as his favourite vegetable - wrote: 'News that Angela Rayner may approve allotment sales will fill many with deep dismay. 'Allotments have always been under threat from developers. Now, that threat seems to have Government backing, which makes the future of these precious spaces even more perilous.' Mr Corbyn said the popularity of allotments had 'grown out of opposition to enclosures and the privatisation of common land' in previous centuries. He also noted how there are 'at least 100,000 people' on waiting lists for allotments across the country. 'Once lost, they never return,' he added. 'Their loss makes us all poorer, as we become more and more detached from how food is grown and how nature interacts with us. 'Allotments provide a vital space for community cohesion, biodiversity and social solidarity. 'These parcels of land, that cannot be individually fenced, provide growing space for many people. 'Many people have no access to their own garden, and an allotment gives them the opportunity to grow vegetables and fruit and observe nature. 'Allotments are particularly important for people who experience stress and mental health problems.' Mr Corbyn acknowledged that 'social housing is desperately needed' as Ms Rayner attempts to fulfil Labour's pledge to build 1.5million new homes within five years. But he warned: 'We need not sacrifice these vital green spaces to build it. 'Is this Government going to put the nail in the coffin of the joy of digging ground for potatoes on a cold, wet February Sunday afternoon? The battle for the grass roots is on!' Mr Corbyn's attack on the Government comes after his recent launch of a new party, temporarily known as 'Your Party', with fellow ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana. Ms Rayner was recently revealed to have approved the sale of allotments in Somerset, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, West Sussex, Derbyshire, and Kent. In Storrington, West Sussex, there are plans to build 78 new houses on a former allotment site. A spokesman for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said that councils should only sell off allotments 'where it is clearly necessary and offers value for money'. He added: 'We know how important allotments are for communities, and that is why strict criteria is in place to protect them, as well as school playing fields.'
