UK politics live: Early release scheme for prisoners to be unveiled as Reform UK Nigel Farage returns to GB News despite Ofcom warning

Sir Keir Starmer has said the prisons overcrowding crisis was “unforgivable” and showed “gross irresponsibility” from the previous government.

Responding to a question at the Nato summit last night, Sir Keir said: “The crux of the problem we face at the moment, and it is a terrible problem, is that we’ve got far too many prisoners for the prison places that we’ve got and we soon will have.

“That is gross irresponsibility of the outgoing government. It is a basic function of government that you should have enough places for your prisoners that judges are sending to prison.

“And for that to have failed I think tells you something material about the last government – that we have to pick this up and we have to fix it. I can’t build a prison in the first seven days of a Labour government.”

Sir Keir added: “We knew there was going to be a problem, but the scale of the problem was worse than we thought.

“And the nature of the problem is pretty unforgivable in my book, having worked in criminal justice, to have allowed your criminal justice system to get to a state where you simply haven’t got the prison places for prisoners.

“This is a predictable problem – it’s shocking. And I think that when further details are released of this, you’ll have plenty of extra questions for those that came before us.”

Sir Keir Starmer insisted he was not going back on a commitment to a free vote on changes to assisted dying laws despite declining to put a timetable on it.

The prime minister said he would provide parliamentary time for a vote if a backbench MP proposed changing the law but “we have got to set our priorities for the first year or so”.

Sir Keir supported a change in the law the last time the issue was voted on in the Commons nine years ago and the cause has been championed by broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen.

He told reporters that he would support a free vote on a private member’s bill if one was produced by an MP.

Asked if there would be a vote in the first year, he said: “What I said was that we would provide time for this, obviously, by way of a private member’s bill, and there will be a free vote, that remains my position for the reasons I’ve set out, having probably got more experience on this than most people, having personally looked at tens of cases in my time as director of public prosecutions.

“As to the timing of it, I haven’t made a commitment on that and I don’t want to. I’m not going back on the commitment I made, it’s just we have got to set out priorities for the first year or so, but I will double down on the commitment that we are going to do that, we will allow time for a private member’s bill, and there will be a free vote.”

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to stop children under the age of 16 form buying mobile phones but claimed there should be stronger content controls.

The prime minister said his  13-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son own phones but refused to say whether he restricts their use.

Sir Keir told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Our children have mobile phones and I’m not in favour of simply banning them for children under 16.

“I think there’s a serious question as to what the content is and the control of the content and that is something where I think we need to look again.”

The justice secretary is set to announce plans to address prison overcrowding amid fears jails will run out of space within weeks.

Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out emergency measures that could include reducing the time before some prisoners are automatically released, following a tour of HMP Bedford and HMP Five Wells, in Northamptonshire.

She is expected to argue that the level of overcrowding, described by the Ministry of Justice as “catastrophic”, requires “immediate action” to “pull the justice system back from the brink of total collapse”.

The emergency measures are a bid to prevent the situation from becoming so bad that it leads to a breakdown in law and order, amid fears that if no action is taken this could see a scenario where criminals believe they can act with impunity and turn to opportunistic crimes like lootings if police officers cannot use their powers to detain dangerous offenders because they have nowhere to hold them.

For the prison system to run smoothly and effectively, officials ideally want to keep a buffer of 1,425 cell spaces free in men’s prisons at all times to make sure there is enough space to hold sudden influxes of inmates.

According to sources, just 700 are now free. It is understood the latest figures show 83,380 inmates are currently being held in the adult male estate.

The Reform leader is set to return to his presenter role at GB News next week after being elected as an MP.

He cancelled his GB News show, which he hosted Monday to Thursday each week, in May to free up time to help with the General Election campaigning for Reform UK.

Mr Farage is planning to broadcast from the channel’s studios in Westminster three times a week, according to the Financial Times.

Ofcom has repeatedly found that GB News has breached broadcasting rules on impartiality, which allow politicians to present current affairs programmes but not act as newsreaders.

In May, the broadcaster said it was beginning a challenge against Ofcom after the broadcasting regulator warned the channel that it is considering enforcement methods that could include a fine or revoking its licence.

Their backlash came after the regulator ruled that GB News broke broadcasting due impartiality rules following the airing of the programme, People’s Forum: The Prime Minister, where Rishi Sunak was questioned by the public.

Ofcom said it did not feature an “appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints” and called compliance by the channel “wholly insufficient”.

More members of Labour’s new cabinet went to an unassuming state secondary in south Manchester than attended the public school that produced 20 prime ministers.

Here, Marina Gask remembers fondly her time at Parrs Wood – and reveals what made it such a political powerhouse:

Environment secretary Steve Reed has rejected calls to scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap.

The Labour minister said the party understands calls to get rid of the policy but claimed the government must keep “strict spending controls” to stabilise the economy.

Mr Reed told reporters: “Of course we understand the pressure for that, of course we understand the difficulties families face because of the wider cost of living crisis.

“It is absolutely essential that this Labour Government maintains strict spending controls because we have to stabilise the economy after 14 years of Conservative chaos.

“It is that chaos and the way they crashed the economy that has left families hurting so much. As we grow the economy, we will be able to spend the additional income on other things that we want to achieve for this country.”

Oleksandra and Yaroslav, both aged 31, decided to leave their daughter Anna with her grandparents in Kyiv while getting set up with their own accommodation and establishing a new business after arriving in Britain under the Homes for Ukraine scheme in April 2022.

But after they overcame these hurdles, their application in April this year for Anna to join them was refused by the Home Office on the grounds that – as per rule changes brought in without warning in February – they were no longer eligible sponsors, being neither UK or Irish citizens nor having indefinite leave to remain.

However, after Anna’s case was highlighted by The Independent and raised by the charity Settled with senior Home Office figures, her parents were given sponsor checks and the toddler’s visa was finally approved on 18 June.

Our reporter Andy Gregory has the full story: