Burnham has asked the justice secretary Alex Norris to come to parliament in September with solution
Good morning. Andy Burnham has been prime minister for three weeks and one day, and arguably he is performing his first U-turn. It is in relation to the prisoner early release scheme and, in particular, finding a way of ensuring that two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper are not included.
Burnham has been looking at this for some time. Early last week he announced significant changes to the early release scheme that he inherited and that was due to come into force from September. Around 1,000 fewer prisoners were going to be included. But two of the three Harper killers (Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers) were not affected by the change, and remained eligible. The main perpetrator (Henry Long), who was driving the car that dragged Harper to his death, was not covered by the scheme anyway because his manslaughter sentence was longer than theirs.
The prime minister is determined to ensure that there is a solution to this, and I think he’s made that really clear. And he’s tasked the justice secretary to come to parliament in September with that solution. He’s looking at alternatives like the indefinite sentences, like women prisoners and speeding up foreign nationals being deported. So there is a lot of work that’s going on.
The prime minister is really clear. He will not just accept that the system says no. He understands the anger and the trauma that PC Harper’s family are going through, and other victims who are seeing this prison crisis unfold.
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