The comments made by Michael Ellis, the Solicitor General, on 7 August 2020.
This offender’s actions have brought significant distress and psychological harm to a vulnerable victim and her family. I am pleased that the judge has agreed to increase the offender’s sentence in order to take into account the harm that he inflicted through this attack.
The comments made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 5 August 2020.
This Government is committed to giving police the resources they need and empowering them to use technologies to fight crime and keep the public safe. I am exceptionally impressed to see how Dstl is contributing to this priority through science and technology, which is directly benefiting crime reduction and providing better protection for our dedicated police officers.
This research and development is absolutely crucial to keeping our country and citizens safe and it is exciting to see the work come to fruition.
The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 5 August 2020.
The Tories’ disastrous sell-off of courts in England and Wales has created a situation where dangerous offenders could now be released onto the streets.
This could threaten public safety as well as being another insult to the generation of victims who are being denied justice by endless delays.
Tory vandalism has created chaos and permanently damaged the justice system. It’s unbelievable that the Government plans to close further courts.
The Government must stop dithering over its roll out of Nightingale Courts. We urgently need more capacity to deal with the immediate crisis. The Conservatives must also promise to make no new plans to close more courts while in government.
The comments made by Sarah Jones, the Shadow Minister for Policing and Fire, on 3 August 2020.
Knife crime has risen as a result of Tory cuts to the Police and preventative services. The Government have spent years announcing summits, strategies, and taskforces – but they have failed to act, with knife crime continuing to rise across the country on their watch.
More warm words from ministers will not help communities across the country that are blighted by knife crime.
This Conservative Government needs to explain how it will fix the national knife crime crisis that was born on their watch.
The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 4 August 2020.
These figures show the large and growing impact crime has in rural areas.
The Tory cuts to policing have seen officer numbers fall sharply across the country, often leaving rural communities feeling abandoned.
These figures are yet another example of the Tories failing on crime.
Comments made by Robert Buckland, the Lord Chancellor, on 31 July 2020.
Judicial review will always be an essential part of our democratic constitution – protecting citizens from an overbearing state.
This review will ensure this precious check on government power is maintained, while making sure the process is not abused or used to conduct politics by another means.
I’d like to thank Lord Faulks and the other panel members for undertaking this important piece of work and look forward to their recommendations.
The comments made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 30 July 2020.
We are delivering on the people’s priorities – putting more police officers on the streets to cut crime and keep us safe.
Our brave police officers have gone above and beyond during the coronavirus pandemic, clearly inspiring many others to join them.
My support for them remains unwavering – they deserve our utmost gratitude and respect.
The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 30 July 2020.
When I became Prime Minister I made a commitment to the police that they would always have my backing and we would recruit more officers, cut crime and make your streets safer.
Just over one year on we are already delivering on our promise, with over 4,000 new officers already, meaning we’re ahead of track on our plans to recruit 20,000 in the next three years.
As we’ve seen from the frontline response to the coronavirus, the work of each and every police officer helps to save lives and I would like to extend my gratitude to them, and to the new recruits, for joining the service and being a part of this heroic effort.
The comments made by Lord Falconer, the Shadow Attorney General, on 30 July 2020.
These measures are welcome, however it is extremely concerning that rape convictions have now fallen to the lowest level on record in England and Wales, with no adequate explanation to why the figures have dropped so sharply.
More needs to be done to ensure that victims have the confidence to come forward to report these crimes, and have faith that the criminal justice system will be there to support them throughout.
The CPS needs to urgently identify the causes of why prosecution levels are so low, learn these lessons quickly and act swiftly to reverse this worrying deterioration of prosecution levels to ensure that victims of rape and sexual violence are not denied their right to justice.
Comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 30 July 2020.
The fact that we are witnessing record levels of self-harm in our prisons is deeply alarming. It comes following 10 years of cuts that have left prisons overcrowded and understaffed.
These statistics show the massive scale of this problem even before emergency lockdown measures were introduced to the prison estate. With prisoners isolated in their cells for 23 hours per day during the pandemic, the number that are self-harming may have further increased.
It is vital that prisoners get access to the mental health support they need, which will also help them rehabilitate.