PM says state of prisons.'even worse' than feared

Sir Keir Starmer has said that an urgent plan is to be brought forward next week to tackle overcrowding in prisons after saying conditions are even worse” than Labour had feared.

- DAVID MADDOX

The new prime minister said the state of Britain’s prisons was a major shock when his new government got to look at the books after winning the election last week.

Sir Keir was unable to guarantee that dangerous criminals would not be released early, although he ruled out sexual offenders and child abusers. Speaking to journalists on the plane to the Nato summit in Washington DC, he was asked whether he was surprised when he opened the financial books. But he answered that prisons are the bigger issue.