"Good morning. Except it isn't if you are David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary. Or Alex Davies-Jones, a junior justice minister, who has been doing the morning media round. Lammy took PMQs for the first time yesterday, but the coverage is a nightmare, partly because it coincided with news about two more prisoners being released by mistake, even though Lammy recently required governors to do extra checks to stop this happening, and partly because he dodged questions about this in the chamber."
"Crudely put, their assumption is: people don't like criminals, people don't like migrants, so migrant criminals are doubly bad, and Labour are letting them out. As they have been commenting on this over the past 24 hours, Kemi Badenoch, Chris Philp, Robert Jenkins et al have found it hard to conceal the glee. As ever, the reality is a bit more complicated. Of all public services, the prison service is probably the most dysfunctional, and has been for years."
David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, faced intense coverage after taking PMQs for the first time while two more prisoners were reported released by mistake. He had required governors to perform extra checks, yet he avoided questions about the incidents in the Commons. Conservatives emphasized migrant criminality and seized on the errors politically. The prison service remains highly dysfunctional and accidental releases have previously occurred frequently; under the Conservatives they happened at about 17 per month. The Labour government increased early releases sharply after taking office to avoid catastrophic overcrowding, coinciding with a rise in mistaken releases.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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