Make new laws to keep danger lags in jail, demands Kemi as she lays down gauntlet to Burnham to ‘prove he is serious’

EMERGENCY laws are needed to stop dangerous prisoners getting out of jail early, Kemi Badenoch will demand today. The Tory leader wants Andy Burnham to “prove he is serious” about keeping killers, rapists and other crooks behind bars. Thousands are due to be released from September 2 after serving a third of their sentences to ease the overcrowding crisis. Sir Keir Starmer’s government cut the automatic early release down from half. Latest figures show around 3,000 spaces left. But the new PM pledged to pause the scheme last week amid fury it could include two killers of PC Andrew Harper, who died in 2020 after being dragged behind a car for a mile. His widow called it “deplorable”. Now Ms Badenoch has warned only fast-track legislation will stop automatic mass freeing of lags within months under current laws. READ MORE IN POLITICS She said: “Andy Burnham must prove he is serious by acting now to stop Labour’s Early Release scheme. “Instead, he’s announced another government review. It’s not good enough. “Without emergency legislation, dangerous violent and sexual offenders will be released at the start of September. It’s all well and good cutting bills and bus fares, but it pales into insignificance when paedophiles and rapists are about to be let out on our streets. “Burnham needs to show us that he’s ready to take tough decisions.” Most read in The Sun Labour said during 14 years of Tory rule, they “shut 23 prisons, created 482 jail places and granted early release to 10,000 prisoners”. A spokesman added: “We’ve already delivered over 3,000 prison places and are investing billions to deliver thousands more.”