The Conservatives are calling on Andy Burnham to introduce emergency legislation to permanently halt the early release of serious offenders, including convicted paedophiles and rapists, arguing that a government review announced last week does not go far enough. The early release scheme, which lets some prisoners out after serving a third of their sentence rather than half, was paused by the Prime Minister following pressure from the family of murdered police officer Andrew Harper, whose killers were reportedly being considered for release under the policy.

The scheme was introduced under the Sentencing Act to relieve prison overcrowding and could have seen around 6,000 offenders released in September. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said a review was insufficient and demanded immediate legal change, while Labour accused the Tories of hypocrisy, pointing to prison closures and early releases under previous Conservative governments. Housing minister Sally Jameson said the review would report back within "coming days and weeks", and Pc Harper's mother welcomed the pause but urged permanent reform.