‘We inherited a system in crisis,’ says prison minister as emergency measures brought in – UK politics live

Opening summary

Good morning and welcome to our UK politics blog. We start with news that ministers have activated emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding as more rioters are sentenced for their role in the recent unrest.

The longstanding measures, known as Operation Early Dawn, allow defendants to be held in police cells until prison beds became available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

Labour have already said that the previous Conservative administration failed to deal with prison overcrowding and on Monday the prisons and probation minister Lord Timpson said:

We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.

The national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association also blamed the Tories. Mark Fairhurst told BBC Breakfast:

It has been an extremely pressured situation for several months now because we are so full, and that’s down to the previous government, let’s be honest now.

They closed 20 public sector prisons, they didn’t build enough new prisons, they didn’t create enough prison space and people are serving longer sentences.

More on the prison crisis later. In other developments:

SNP MSP John Mason said he had not foreseen losing the whip over his social media post about Israel, saying: “I’m not someone who foresees the future exactly, but sometimes you have to do the right thing and just take the consequences.” He had written on X that the country’s actions in Gaza did not amount to “genocide”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he is “very strongly” considering standing at the next general election after losing his seat to Labour. The former Tory cabinet minister told an audience at the Edinburgh fringe festival that the Conservatives had “deserved” to lose the recent election, and that he was not shocked after losing his North East Somerset and Hanham seat to the mayor of the West of England Dan Norris by more than 5,000 votes. Rees-Mogg had won it from Norris in 2010.
A Foreign Office official has resigned over the UK’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel because of alleged breaches of international law. Mark Smith, a counter-terrorism official based at the British embassy in Dublin, said he had resigned after making numerous internal complaints, including through an official whistleblowing mechanism, but receiving nothing but pro-forma responses.
Rachel Reeves has been warned by Britain’s biggest manufacturers that her autumn budget must address a decade of decline in national infrastructure that is damaging economic growth. More than half of manufacturers surveyed by the industry group Make UK said that the country’s national road infrastructure had deteriorated in the last 10 years, making it slower and more expensive to build and export British products.
The number of asylum seekers who have died in the care of the Home Office has more than doubled in the last year, according to data shared with the Guardian, a development that has been described as “deeply troubling”. While some deaths were a result of illness or old age, others are thought to have happened as a result of suicide. Charities fear that the treatment of asylum seekers in the UK has adversely affected the health of an already vulnerable group of people.

Key events

Sinn Féin’s vice-president Michelle O’Neill has said the party will take a “constructive approach” with the new leader of the UUP, as Doug Beattie steps down.

In a statement, O’Neill said: “I want to wish Doug Beattie and his family well as he announces today that he will step down as leader of the UUP.

“We have worked constructively since he became leader of his party, including during the restoration of the Executive and institutions at the beginning of this year.”

The first minister added: “I will continue this constructive approach with the new leader of the UUP when they take up post.

“Sinn Féin will continue to work together with all parties in the Executive and Assembly to ensure we deliver for all.”

Aletha Adu

Suella Braverman is the latest senior Tory to be cashing in on the international speaking circuit, as it was revealed she was paid nearly £60,000 for making speeches around the world, the highest of any current MP.

The former home secretary received £25,000 to speak in South Korea in May, according to the first register of MPs’ financial interests of this parliament, and she received £20,000 for another speaking engagement in India in March.

Braverman also declared that she received £14,000 for articles she wrote for the Telegraph, and she also had an all-expenses trip to Israel worth £27,800 paid for by the National Jewish Assembly.

Last month Braverman declared she received £11,800 for a five-hour talk to a financial intelligence and risk control firm in London, and she also made a speech in Washington during which she was paid £6,500 in expenses for the trip by the Edmund Burke Foundation.

England prison overcrowding emergency measures come into force

Rajeev Syal

Ministers have activated emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding as more rioters are sentenced for their role in the recent unrest.

The longstanding measures, known as Operation Early Dawn, allow defendants to be held in police cells until prison beds become available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

The system was activated on Monday morning and means some defendants across the north of England waiting for a court appearance will be kept in police cells until prison space is available.

The government said that its action to “tackle violent thuggery on our streets” had “exacerbated longstanding capacity issues in our prisons”.

James Timpson, the prisons minister, said: “We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.”

He said the emergency measures would help “manage the pressure felt in some parts of the country”. He added that anyone who posed a risk to the public “will not be bailed” and police’s ability to arrest criminals woud not be affected.

Doug Beattie said he took over as leader at the beginning of a three-year election cycle with an overall aim of addressing the decline of the UUP, enhancing its influence and returning it to Westminster.

“Following the recent general election results, the party has now returned to the green benches after an absence of seven years,” he said.

“Our share of the vote had increased slightly, and we have also elevated a member to the House of Lords. This is something we have not achieved in 13 years; a move that demonstrates our increased influence at the highest levels of government.

“The party will now re-establish its parliamentary party to help increase our influence and ensure the Ulster Unionists’ voice, promoting a positive, optimistic, pro-union vision, is heard.

“These are small successes on the back of a difficult electoral results with a lot of work still to do, particularly in border constituencies. Nevertheless, they are successes which requires momentum to capitalise on the opportunities they present.”

In a statement, Doug Beattie said it has been a “huge honour” to lead the Ulster Unionist Party but added: “It has not been easy and at times it has been both lonely and isolating.”

“I am no stranger to leadership and that is how it often feels in taking a toll both physically and mentally. It also strains friendships and political relationships,” Beattie said.

“It is now clear that some believe the momentum needed to keep the Ulster Unionist Party moving in the right direction cannot come from me.

“Irreconcilable differences between myself and party officers combined with the inability to influence and shape the party going forward means that I can no longer remain the party leader.

“Therefore, I shall stand down as the party leader and allow the party to immediately begin the process to select a new leader who may maintain the confidence of the party and continue the momentum I have started.

“It is important to acknowledge the loyalty and support from many within the party. This includes the MLA group and many other elected and non-elected members.

“I must also acknowledge that some did not agree with the direction and path I set for the party and the vision I promoted. I hope they can see that in the long term only an inclusive Ulster Unionist Party, promoting a positive message, can secure our future.

“I hope the new leader is given the freedom to act.”

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie steps down from role

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie has announced he is standing down from the role, citing “irreconcilable differences” with party officers among his reasons.

Beattie had been in the role since May 2021.

More to follow as we get it.

Police forces face a “big job” to adopt a safeguarding-first approach towards children and young people, Dame Rachel de Souza has said.

On BBC Breakfast, she said: “As Children’s commissioner, I get to talk to children everywhere. I talk to children in youth prison, children in schools, children in hospitals, children everywhere.

“And in fact, a million children recently have filled in my surveys on what they think about what they think the government should do.

“When I talk to them about the police, when they respond on the police, they say they know it’s a hard job, they know the police have to do tough things, they want to be protected by the police, but the police must be trustworthy and must keep the rules.

“I think that really says it all, and I think there are groups of young people who feel that isn’t the case and they’re unfairly, you know, picked on, and unfortunately, data like this shows that it does look like this is the case, or we certainly can’t say it’s not.

“So I think the police have a big job to do here in terms of listening to young people, especially those that are, you know, are from the black community and other communities that are disproportionately in these figures.”

Dame Rachel added: “It’s not always the big urban centres that are doing the largest amount of strip-searches. It’s right across the country. There’s a big job for the police to do in terms of listening to children and policing with a safeguarding-first approach.”

Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has warned child strip-searches should only take place if a life is at risk.

Dame Rachel told BBC Breakfast: “My argument is, they should only be done if it’s a life-threatening situation. Let me just remind viewers, this is pre-arrest, this is a child that’s just a suspicion, they’re taken – there’s meant to be an appropriate adult there: in 45% of cases there are not.

“And their clothes are removed, and their most intimate parts are looked at and moved if necessary.

“It’s really very intrusive and, you know, it’s hard to see, given that only about half of the strip-searches have further action taken – and a far smaller per cent actually end up with charges – that they’re being done because it’s really, really crucial for life and death that they’re being done.

“And that for me is the benchmark that really needs to be there.”

The vice-president of the Prison Governors’ Association has said he is “not sure” how much Operation Early Dawn will help the prisons crisis.

Mark Icke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m not sure it does help, today, tomorrow, the next day, because, as was just suggested, we have been lurching from crisis to crisis for some time.

“Running a prison is an incredibly complex business and so we don’t know which way to turn at the moment.”

He added that short term measures “are not ideal”.

“We have been highlighting this to the previous government, we’ve highlighted this to the new government, and we really do want to sit down and have a conversation about what the purpose of prison is moving forward,” he said.