Minister defends David Lammy and says ‘broken system’ to blame for prisoner releases – UK politics live

8.57am GMT

The shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said on X that the mistaken release of Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
Referring to a story in the Telegraph that 90 prisoners may have been released by mistake, Jenrick said: “The accidental release of the Epping sex offender was just the tip of the iceberg.
“Lammy refused to provide the full facts, but thanks to the @telegraph the scale of the chaos has been uncovered. Where are these dangerous criminals @davidlammy?!”

8.44am GMT

One of two prisoners mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth handed himself back in yesterday.
William ‘Billy’ Smith, 35, handed himself in to the prison in south-west London yesterday.
He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon crown court on Monday but was mistakenly released the same day, prompting a three-day manhunt. Video shows the moment he handed himself in.

8.40am GMT

Three prisoners have been charged with murder after a child killer was found dead in his cell, PA reports.
The Prison Service confirmed the man was 33-year-old Kyle Bevan, who was jailed for life for murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter Lola James in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in 2020.
Bevan was set to spend at least 28 years behind bars for the savage killing after inflicting catastrophic head injuries on the toddler during a six-hour attack.
Officers were called to category A HMP Wakefield at 8.25am on Wednesday, West Yorkshire Police said.
Mark Fellows, 45, Lee Newell, 56, and David Taylor have been charged with murder, the force said. They were remanded into custody and are due to appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The incident comes less than a month after paedophile singer Ian Watkins was stabbed to death at the same prison.

8.30am GMT

Last night David Lammy posted a video on X saying he was “as shocked as anyone” that prison release errors were happening at this rate.
In the video the justice secretary said he was determined to get a grip on it:
“I’ve already brought in stronger release checks with more direct accountability.
“And I’ve asked dame Lynne Owens to conduct an independent review to look at action we can take going forward.
“Today I’ve convened prison governors to understand what further support they need to stop these errors.”

8.20am GMT
Minister defends Lammy amid pressure over mistaken prisoner releases

Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics as questions continue over David Lammy’s handling of a mistaken prisoner release, with a sex offender still on the run.
The deputy prime minister and justice secretary has been criticised over the freeing of Algerian Brahim Kaddour-Cherif from Wandsworth prison. Yesterday the deputy prime minister and justice secretary said the government has “a mountain to climb” to tackle the prisons crisis and insisted he was “not equipped with all the detail” when questioned in parliament on Wednesday about the issue.But there has been apparent disquiet from colleagues, with The Times quoting anonymous senior ministers as saying he was “cowardly” and guilty of “rank incompetence”.
Keir Starmer, while at the Cop30 summit, backed his deputy by saying it was “right” he was “setting out the facts to the best of his knowledge”. He is travelling back from Brazil today.
Meanwhile Steve Reed dismissed criticism of Lammy from fellow ministers as “anonymous tittle tattle”. The housing secretary told Times Radio:

The problem is we’ve got a broken system, and you are going to see failings when you have a broken system. The key is to make sure we have a digital system so that no prisoner is ever released by mistake.
There is not an acceptable number for [mistaken releases], but the way to fix it is not tittle tattle about David Lammy in the newspapers, it’s to get on and do the work and put in the investment that will digitise the system.
David has already had the prison governors in his office yesterday, I imagine they felt pretty hauled over the coals given what’s been going on, but he was also making sure that they’re getting all the support they need to carry out the much tougher checks that will be required to make sure that the repeats of this are at an absolute minimum.”

Stay with us for all the developments as well as pre-Budget speculation with the new Labour deputy leader, Lucy Powell, saying that Labour should stand by its manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, in a challenge that will put pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. You can read our story here

Related: Lucy Powell says Labour must stand by promise not to raise key taxes