UK politics live: Keir Starmer blasts ‘unforgivable’ prison overcrowding as Rory Stewart brands jail crisis ‘total disgrace’

The Ministry of Justice’s latest weekly figures on the the prison population – including both male and female inmates – shows it stood at 87,505 out of a “usable operational capacity” of 88,956, as of Friday.

That indicates 1,451 spaces are available.

The former Labour leader was re-elected by the people of Islington North after scooping a whopping 24,120 votes on 5 July, beating his former party’s candidate Praful Nargund.

The independent MP said local communities like the Congolese Community Council helped him hold onto his seat.

Revealing the behind the scenes of his landslide victory, he told The Guardian: “This election wasn’t about me. It was about our community, and there was only one way we could win this election: together.”

Mr Corbyn added his campaign was a “people-power led” movement, writing: “Thousands of people who gave up their time to support our campaign in a variety of ways: knocking on doors to speak to voters, offering posters to residents and shops, sending messages in family or street WhatsApp groups, stewarding rallies, creating art, or making cups of tea for those entering data late into the evening.”

Johnny Mercer has repeatedly refused to hand over the names of “multiple officers” who told him about allegations of murder and a cover-up during his time as a backbench MP while giving evidence to the Afghanistan Inquiry in February and has reiterated his vows to “keep my word” to those who confided in him.

Green co-leader Carla Denyer has called for Sir Keir Starmer to “immediately create safe and legal routes” for asylum seekers after the reported deaths of four people trying to cross the Channel.

Taking to X, the newly elected MP for Bristol said: “I am horrified to hear of the deaths of four people who risked their lives crossing the Channel last night. My condolences go out to their families. I, and all the Green Party MPs, urge Labour to immediately create safe and legal routes for people in desperate need of seeking asylum.”

The ex-Labour leader, who defeated his former party candidate in Islington North, has vowed to challenge “those at the top” after his landslide victory in the general election.

The left-wing politician claimed he will build a new movement “from below” by “planting the seeds for a new way of doing politics”.

Writing on The Guardian, Mr Corbyn added: “That starts with our first People’s Forum. It will be a monthly opportunity for residents to hold me, their elected representative, to account. It will be a chance for local people to ask me anything about the month gone by and give me instructions for the month ahead.

“It will be a shared, democratic space for local campaigns, trade unions, tenants’ unions, debtors’ unions and national movements to organise, together, for the kind of world we want to live in. Listening to the voices of those who elected me. Discussing the concerns and hopes of our community. Empowering each other to do something about it. That is what real democracy looks like.”

But the channel announced on Thursday Mr Farage is planning to broadcast from its studios in Westminster three times a week from next week. It is not known how much Mr Farage will be paid by GB News, but his election to parliament means he will be forced to reveal the figure in his register of financial interests.

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story:

The former Labour leader has branded Sir Keir Starmer’s victory in the general election a “loveless landslide”.

Writing on The Guardian, the independent Mp for Islington North said the election result was a reflection of voters’ discontent with the Tories and Labour.

Mr Corbyn wrote: “The general election did not allow for the full expression of people power. Rather, we saw a rejection of the political establishment, leading to a loveless landslide; this election saw the second-lowest turnout since 1918 and the smallest combined vote share for the two main parties since 1945. Public discontent with a broken political system will only grow as the government fails to make the real change that people expect.”

He added: “That energy needs somewhere to go. It needs to be channelled. It needs to be mobilised. That’s why our campaign will organise with those who have been inspired by our victory to build community power in every corner of the country. Once our grassroots model has been replicated elsewhere, this can be the genesis of a new movement capable of challenging the stale two-party system.

“A movement that offers a real alternative to child poverty, inequality and endless war. A movement that provides a real opposition to the far right – one that doesn’t concede ground to divisive rhetoric, but stands by its principles of anti-racism, equality and inclusion.”

George Osborne has warned the Conservative Party to move towards the centre ground rather than chase Reform voters to regain power.

The former chancellor claimed targeting Nigel Farage’s supporters would result in the Tories losing more moderate backers.

Mr Osborne told his Political Currency podcast: “It is a very hard tactical choice, for the new leader, which is the obvious thing to do if you look at the maths is to say ‘let’s go and get the 14 or 15 per cent who voted Reform, add it to the 24 per cent who voted Conservative and we’re ahead of Labour, it is easy, job done’ without noticing really what I think is the central challenge which is the Conservative Party over a number of years vacated the central ground of British politics and allowed the Labour Party to move from the Corbynista position it was in to the centre ground.”

He added: “It allowed the Liberal Democrats to get the largest number of seats they have had in a century and decimate the Tories in places like the West Country.

“And if you don’t win back that centre ground, frankly you may get some of those Reform votes somehow… and you will lose more of your centre ground support in doing so and there is nothing that says the Labour Party is stuck on 34 per cent of the vote.

“There is no reason why they couldn’t go up higher and deprive you of the majority even if you managed to get some of those Reform people on side because they have expanded their position in the centre ground.”

More than 10,000 prisoners were released up to 70 days early by the previous government, according to new Ministry of Justice figures.

Under the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme, announced in October 2023, some prisoners could be freed 18 days before their conditional release date. That was increased to 35 days in March, and then to 70 days in May.

The number of ECSL releases between October 17 and June 30 was 10,083, the data shows.