Magistrates ‘asked to stop jailing criminals’ for several weeks to ease pressure on prisons

Newly released figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that UK households cut their real-terms spending on food and non-alcoholic drinks in the year to March 2023.

While nominal spending on the category increased over the period, there was a 7.5% real-terms drop when accounting for inflation, making it the area where households made the biggest cutbacks, the ONS said.

Average weekly household expenditure was £567.70 over the year, a nominal increase of £38.90, or 7%, on the previous 12 months.

However, after accounting for inflation, this was a real-terms decrease of £21.10, or 4%, the agency said.

A temporary ban on the sale or supply of puberty blockers has been extended to cover Northern Ireland.

BBC News has this report:

Puberty blockers work by suppressing the release of hormones and are often prescribed to children questioning their gender.

In May, the Conservative government tightened rules on the drugs, introducing an emergency ban on them being prescribed by private and European prescribers.

This ban, which has been renewed, will come into effect in Northern Ireland from 27 August.

BBC News NI understands the matter was dealt with by way of urgent procedure, with the order signed off by the first and deputy first ministers without wider Executive approval.

Tom Franklin, the chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, has responded to reports that magistrates have been told to consider pushing back court sentencing hearings because of concern about overcrowding in prisons (see post at 09.58).

The Times reported that Lord Justice Nicholas Green, who sits on the court of appeal, has issued a “listing direction” to the managers of magistrates’ courts in England and Wales saying that offenders who are on bail and likely to be jailed should have their sentencing hearings postponed until at least 10 September.

Franklin said the plans are insufficient to tackle the deep-rooted issues in the justice system, including courts, the probation service and the police.

He said:

Another day, another sticking plaster to hold our crumbling justice system together. This latest emergency measure – while it may be necessary to deal with prison overcrowding until the big release of prisoners on 10 September – demonstrates the need for an injection of more resources at every stage of the justice process.

As well as investment in the whole criminal justice system, we need a long-term joined-up plan, where all parts of the justice system – including police, courts, probation and prisons – are considered together. We also need a grown-up discussion about the purpose of prison, and indeed other types of sentences such as community sentences.

Every delay in magistrates’ work adversely affects the timely delivery of justice and impacts victims, witnesses and defendants. The Magistrates’ Association stands ready to work with all stakeholders to improve the system for all. We have identified six areas for improvement and shared them with the new Lord Chancellor.

The overall prison population has ballooned over recent decades largely because of longer sentences and court backlogs. The probation service is underfunded and underresourced. A senior official from Napo, the probation officers’ union, said its members were trying to prepare for the early release scheme – when up to 2,000 prisoners will be released in the second week of September- but the government was unable to maintain staffing levels, let alone recruit more, as required. Many police forces are contending with severe funding pressures, cash shortfalls and a loss of public confidence, while facing higher policing demands as the nature of crime evolves with new technologies.

This is the link to the readout of the 2022 call between Boris Johnson and Xi Jinping for anyone who is interested.

China’s president Xi Jinping discussed cooperation in finance, the green economy and artificial intelligence during his first official phone call with Keir Starmer on Friday, Chinese state media reports.

Xi – who congratulated the prime minister for winning his election landslide last month – told Starmer that the world’s second-largest economy was “willing to maintain exchanges with the United Kingdom at all levels,” the readout added.

The call was reportedly made at Starmer’s request and is the first between Xi and a British prime minister since March 2022, when the Chinese leader spoke with Boris Johnson, the then Conservative prime minister.

China was Britain’s fifth-largest trading partner as of 2023, according to official UK statistics, but diplomatic relations have been icy in recent years as the countries sparred over Beijing’s tightening control over former British colony Hong Kong.

Labour has said it will take a “clear-eyed” approach to China and has committed to conducting a cross-government audit of UK-China relations.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in July, on the sidelines of an association of southeast Asian nations event in Laos. During their talks, which were painted as constructive by his team, Lammy urged China to stop its companies from supporting Russia’s military.

The statement that the British Foreign Office issued after Lammy’s meeting hints at the strategic positioning towards Beijing the new Labour government is adopting.

The statement said:

He set out that the government would cooperate where we can, compete where needed and challenge where we must.

He made clear the UK would always stand firm in prioritising our national security, as well as supporting human rights.

As we reported in the opening summary, magistrates have been told to consider pushing back the sentencing of some criminals because of mounting concerns about overcrowding in prisons.

The prison population has increased by 341 over the last week, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Justice.

It means there are now 88,234 people in prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales (84,596 people in men’s prisons and 3,638 in women’s prisons).

For comparison, between the 9 August and the 16 August 2024, the prison population in England and Wales increased by 397 people. You can see a breakdown of weekly prison estate figures here.

The jailing of hundreds of rioters has pushed prisons towards full capacity, with there now being only 1,149 spare places across all jails, according to Danny Shaw, a crime, justice and policing commentator and former adviser to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper.

To get to grips with the overcrowding crisis, HM Prison and Probation Service has been forced to prepare Operation Early Dawn, a contingency plan that allows defendants to be held in police cells until prison places become available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

The boss of Gatwick said he “hopes and expects” the government will back the airport’s plans for a second runway, adding that its proposals would bring extra air capacity to the south-east more quickly than a third runway at Heathrow.

Stewart Wingate, the airport’s chief executive since 2009, said the £2.2bn plan to create a fully functioning second runway by the end of the decade had strong economic credentials and could “chime” with the government’s growth agenda.

Gatwick, which is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, is planning to move the centre line of its northern runway, which is used largely as a taxiway, 12 metres (39ft) north in order to allow planes to take off while others land on the existing runway.

A six-month public examination of the scheme will end next week, with the planning inspectors submitting a recommendation to the government before ministers make a decision in the first half of next year.

You can read the full story by my colleague Jack Simpson here:

The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, acknowledged the rise in the price cap will worry lots of people across the country. He blamed the cap increase on the “toxic legacy” of the Conservative governments over the last 14 years, which he said failed to “secure” the UK’s energy system, instead leaving it at the “mercy” of international markets “controlled by dictators”.

In order to help households struggling with bills, Miliband said Labour plans to reform Ofgem so it is a “consumer champion”, work to make standing charges fairer and introduce a Warm Homes Plan, which will give devolved administrations the power and the resources to bring every home in their area up to EPC standard C or higher within a decade.

Miliband has said that building new renewable energy generation, which would result in cheaper energy, and installing thousands of pylons in unspoilt rural areas to deliver a “clean power” revolution, is key to tackling the cost of living crisis.

He added in his post on X:

The only long term solution to achieve energy independence is to sprint towards clean, homegrown power. That’s why we are moving at pace to deliver on our mission for clean power, by lifting the onshore wind ban, consenting solar and getting more renewable projects built.

There has been lots of reaction to Ofgem confirming the energy cap will rise to an average annual £1,717 from October, a 10% a year – or £12 a month – leap in the typical amount households face paying for their gas and electricity when using direct debit.

While this is a rise on the period from July to September, the new cap will be about £117 cheaper compared to the same period in 2023, when the typical bill was capped at £1,834.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, revealed the price cap weeks after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, set out plans to restrict the winter fuel allowance, which will affect millions of pensioners. She said the move was necessary to help plug a “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservatives.

Winter fuel payments are worth between £100 and £300 – tax-free – with the basic rate paid automatically to anyone claiming the state pension. The higher sums are available to those who get other benefits, such as pension credit. You can read more about the payments in this useful explainer here.

Reacting to Ofgem’s energy cap announcement, shadow energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, accused Labour of not being honest about its plans.

She said:

Instead of prioritising cheap energy, the new Labour government are pursuing Ed Miliband’s reckless net zero targets with no thoughts to the costs.

And far from their promise of saving families £300 off their energy bills, one of their first acts in office is to remove the winter fuel payment from 10 million pensioners this winter.

Because they weren’t honest about their plans, that means millions of pensioners will have made no plans to deal with higher energy bills this winter.

Gillian Cooper, director of energy at Citizens Advice, said:

We’ve braced ourselves for a challenging winter but today’s price cap increase will no doubt see even more people fall behind on their energy bills.

We’re particularly concerned about households with children and young people and those on lower incomes, who are most likely to struggle with their heating costs.

Good morning and welcome back to our rolling coverage of UK politics.

Magistrates have been asked to stop jailing criminals for several weeks in an attempt to ease pressure on Britain’s overcrowded prisons, according to reports.

The Times reported that Lord Justice Nicholas Green, who sits on the court of appeal, has issued a “listing direction” to the managers of magistrates’ courts in England and Wales saying that offenders who are on bail and likely to be jailed should have their sentencing hearings postponed until at least 10 September.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the guidelines did not apply to high-risk offenders who were already on remand.

“Every delay in magistrates’ work adversely affects the timely delivery of justice and impacts victims, witnesses and defendants,” Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates Association, told The Times.

He said Green’s direction was “the latest sticking plaster to try to get through until the big release of prisoners on 10 September but just highlights the crisis that the justice system is in”.

There were already plans in place, from 10 September, for thousands of prisoners to start being released 40% of the way through their sentence as part of emergency measures announced last month.

Pressure on prisons increased with riots across England – that broke out after the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport – which led to more than 1,000 arrests. We will bring you reaction to the Times report throughout the day.

Here are some of the other main headlines:

• The average household energy bill is to increase by £149 from October after Ofgem said it was increasing its price cap as homes approach the winter months. The regulator announced it is hiking its price cap by 10% from the current £1,568 for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,717 (about £117 cheaper than the cap last October). You can read more on the energy price cap rise in our business live blog here.

• Another two MSPs – Brian Whittle and Alexander Stewart – have backed the shadow security minister, Tom Tugendhat, as the next leader of the UK Conservative party, bringing his total MSP support to 10. It comes after eight other MSPs backed Tugendhat on Monday, saying he would be a “help, not a hindrance” north of the border.

• Rachel Reeves has insisted there will be “no blank cheques” for public sector unions amid Conservative claims that the government’s attempt to end long-running strikes has made it a soft touch. The chancellor said there had been no caving in to train drivers and junior doctors, and defended her decision to accept recommendations of pay review bodies for real-terms increases for the police, teachers and the armed forces on the grounds that they were needed to recruit and retain staff.

• NHS workers are being urged to accept a 5.5% pay increase offer from the Scottish government, a rise in line with that proposed in England. Unite, one of a number of trade unions which represent NHS staff in Scotland, is to ballot its members on the offer, but is recommending they accept.

It is Yohannes Lowe here with you today. Please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com if you spot any typos or omissions.