Domestic violence Pledge will put more pressure on jails, adviser warns PM

Keir Starmer's pledge to halve violence against women will put more pressure on prisons, a Home Office adviser has warned, saying there could be an additional 10,000 domestic abuse convictions if just one in three victims come forward.

- Daniel Boffey

Nicole Jacobs, the government's domestic abuse commissioner, has written to the prime minister to highlight that the current prisons crisis is taking place at a time of historically low rates of convictions for those perpetrating domestic abuse.

Starmer has promised to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, with measures including dedicated "rape courts" and domestic violence experts taking 999 calls.

In her letter, Jacobs welcomes the Labour government's commitments. However, she questions how they can be achieved at a time when ministers are expected to authorise emergency measures this week under which criminals could be automatically freed after serving between 40% and 45% of their sentence.

With just a few hundred places left in prisons, the new justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has been told that a decision must be made this week to avoid capacity being exceeded by 1 August.