Kemi Badenoch has called on the public to accept new prisons being built in their local areas, warning that widespread "nimby" opposition is a barrier to expanding capacity. Her comments come amid a political row over Labour's plan to release around 6,000 offenders early from September, which new prime minister Andy Burnham has since paused pending a review, prompting Badenoch to demand tougher, faster action instead of a temporary halt.

Under the Sentencing Act reforms, offenders were due to be released after serving a third of their sentence rather than half, a change introduced to relieve severe prison overcrowding. Badenoch argued judicial reviews have delayed prison construction and urged communities not to block sites, while also proposing renting overseas prison capacity, deporting foreign offenders and withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights to ease removals. Burnham said the pause was genuine and one of his first acts in office, while blaming the previous Conservative government for failing to build enough prison places; Badenoch countered that her party had created 14,000 new places but conceded it was "nowhere near enough".