After just 14 days in No 10, Andy Burnham was so stressed at having reduced all those bus fares he's beggared off on holiday to recover. Maybe it's just as well because his honeymoon is well and truly over. Not just because the whole country is baying for his blood over the decision to free PC Andrew Harper's killers, but because Thames Valley Police boss Jason Hogg now says he's looking to take legal action to stop it.
False Hope and Broken Promises
Good, because Burnham can't be allowed to get away with this. First, because by temporarily halting the early release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers he gave false hope to Lissie Harper and Andrew's mum Debbie that his killers would remain behind bars. But after just a week, he cruelly announced they'd be freed: "I have pushed to the very limit of what it's possible to do," he said.
No, he didn't. He had a few conversations with civil servants and prison bosses and then said: "No can do." It's just not good enough. Of course, he could have found two cells to keep cop killers inside. We're currently at 98% capacity but that still leaves 1,500 cells free.
Burnham Out of Touch
Burnham, who prides himself on being in touch with the people, has just shown he's not. Because Brits are fuming. They care that 363 killers convicted of manslaughter could be spewed back onto the streets by 2029 having served just a third of their sentences, which makes a grotesque mockery of justice.
As for him saying there's nothing to be done. Yes, there is. During Covid we built Nightingale hospitals in just nine days. Build some makeshift prisons and put the low-risk offenders in there. We've closed 20 prisons since 2010 – so renovate the ones that are still standing and re-open them. We could send prisoners to serve their sentences in prisons abroad – the harsher the better. And why haven't we deported the 1,000 Albanian foreign criminals in our jails because we DO have a Returns Agreement with Albania.
Things can be done, but Burnham is just wringing his hands and saying it's impossible. Well, he would be saying that if he wasn't lounging on a sunbed.
