Labour shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood told the BBC on Sunday that Labour would make prisons “of national importance”.
The conservatives had previously promised to deliver 20,000 new prison places, and 6,000 have been created so far. Labour said it would ensure the delivery of the remaining 14,000. It is understood some of the delay is due to planning constraints.
Shabana Mahmood said:
From day one, a Labour Government will deem prisons to be of national importance. It means that the planning decision is ultimately made by ministers, rather than going through the usual local authority planning process.
So we can move much faster than this Government, who have let themselves get bogged down by backbencher complaints and the planning process, so we can deliver the full 20,000 (prison places).
Shabana Mahmood continued:
The money has already been allocated in the Ministry of Justice budget, it’s actually a failure of the Government because they’ve allowed the planning system to get in the way and they’ve allowed complaints from their members of parliament, backbenchers in particular, to stop any building in our country.
So this is actually about the Government having the will to get prisons built on day one. We would designate prisons as being of national importance, so that those decisions are ultimately made by ministers rather than the usual planning process.
Ms Mahmood has also promised to drive down reoffending by bringing together prison governors and local employers to create employment councils.
