Second accidental release of prisoner ‘utterly unacceptable’, No 10 says, as Lammy blames system left by Tories – UK politics live | Politics
No 10 says second accidental release of prisoner ‘utterly unacceptable’
Downing Street said the release of a further prisoner is “utterly unacceptable”.
Speaking at the post-PMQs lobby briefing, the No 10 spokesperson said:
We have been very open about the chaos that this government has inherited. The fact that jails were full to the point of capacity. Urgent action has been needed to do exactly that, to restore faith in the justice system.
We’ve been very clear as well there is no overnight fix.
We completely accept that this type of case is utterly unacceptable and needs to be dealt with, and the system needs to be reformed and the appropriate checks need to be in place to stop this type of thing from ever happening.
The public will rightly view any mistaken release of a prisoner from custody on to the streets as unacceptable.
It’s importance the police are given the time and space to bring him back into custody. And we will look into the circumstances behind this as a matter of urgency.
The spokesperson would not say when Lammy was notified about the accidental release of the prisoner. But Keir Starmer was not told about this until the Metropolitan police put out their statement.
UPDATE: A reference to the prisoner who has been released being an asylum seeker has been taken out. (See 2.31pm.)
Key events
The Liberal Democrats say David Lammy should return to the Commons to make a statement about the latest mistaken prisoner releasee. Jess Brown-Fuller, the Lib Dem justice spokesperson, said:
Just when you couldn’t think things could get any worse for the Ministry of Justice, somehow they have. It would be laughable if the situation weren’t so dangerous.
This is yet another grave mistake from the government. The public deserves a full explanation about how this has happened again. That should start with David Lammy coming back before parliament this afternoon for why he failed to answer this pressing question in PMQs as well as a full explanation of how it took almost a week for this to come to light.
Latest prisoner wrongly released not an asylum seeker, source says
Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, says she has been told that the Algerian prisoner mistakenly released is not an asylum seeker.
UPDATE: The wrongly released prisoner is *not* an asylum seeker, I’m told.
“This shows it’s wise to check all your facts,” a source says of Cartlidge’s questions.
More info expected on his immigration status later.
The Telegraph first reported that the man was an asylum seeker, and James Cartlidge repeated this in the Commons after PMQs. (See 12.44pm.) No 10 did not correct this at the post-PMQs lobby briefing.
Kemi Badenoch was not attending PMQs today, but she is not taking the day off. She has been posting on social media, claiming the latest prisoner release shows that the government is a “shambles”.
.@jcartlidgemp asked the Deputy PM FIVE times to tell us if ANOTHER migrant sex offender had been accidentally released from prison.
Instead of answering, Lammy lost his temper.
Now we read it HAS happened again & he’s been on the run for a week. This is a shambles of a govt.
In the Commons last month, in a statement on Hadush Kebatu, David Lammy said that when the Conservatives were in power “they presided over 17 mistaken [prison] releases per month”.
Lammy says he is ‘outraged’ about accidental prisoner release, and claims that shows ‘flaws’ in system left by Tories
David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, has also put out a statement about the prisoner release. He says he is “absolutely outraged”.
I am absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police. The Metropolitan police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison.
Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long.
This latest incident exposes deeper flaws across the failing criminal justice system we inherited. Dame Lynne Owens’ investigation will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues, so we can fix them, improve safeguards and ensure the public is properly protected.
No 10 says second accidental release of prisoner ‘utterly unacceptable’
Downing Street said the release of a further prisoner is “utterly unacceptable”.
Speaking at the post-PMQs lobby briefing, the No 10 spokesperson said:
We have been very open about the chaos that this government has inherited. The fact that jails were full to the point of capacity. Urgent action has been needed to do exactly that, to restore faith in the justice system.
We’ve been very clear as well there is no overnight fix.
We completely accept that this type of case is utterly unacceptable and needs to be dealt with, and the system needs to be reformed and the appropriate checks need to be in place to stop this type of thing from ever happening.
The public will rightly view any mistaken release of a prisoner from custody on to the streets as unacceptable.
It’s importance the police are given the time and space to bring him back into custody. And we will look into the circumstances behind this as a matter of urgency.
The spokesperson would not say when Lammy was notified about the accidental release of the prisoner. But Keir Starmer was not told about this until the Metropolitan police put out their statement.
UPDATE: A reference to the prisoner who has been released being an asylum seeker has been taken out. (See 2.31pm.)
Police ‘urgently’ looking for prisoner freed by mistake in London
Here is Pippa Crerar and Peter Walker’s story about the latest mistaken prison release.
As Pippa and Peter report, mistaken prisoner releases are not that unusual. In the year to March 2025, 262 prisoners were accidentally released, up from 115 the previous year. Ministers have cited these figures as evidence that the Tories left them with a justice system that does not function properly.
PMQs – snap verdict
Earlier this week Kemi Badenoch said that, when she is preparing for PMQs, she finds it helpful to think of it as a pantomime. As an assessment of how PMQs functions, that is reasonably accurate, although whether it should function like that is, of course, another matter.
Pantomimes have heroes and villains, and today David Lammy ended up as the villain. It was not entirely his fault, but he has had better days at the despatch box. But he did not mess up as badly as James Cartlidge apparently did.
Lammy started off well, brushing off the question from Cartlidge, about the father of the victim of Hadush Kebatu not having had a direct apology from ministers, but then Cartlidge started asking if he could reassure MP that “since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?” That was question two. (See 12.07pm.) As Lammy refused to give a direct answer, Cartlidge then asked a version of the same question four more times.
Presumably Cartlidge knew from the start that another foreign prisoner had been inadvertently released. And presumably Lammy did too, and was faced with a choice between a) either confirming something hugely embarrassing in the most-high profile parliamentary slot of the week, or b) repeatedly avoiding the question, which would make him evasive and shifty.
Lammy settled on option b). To be fair, he tried quite hard to disguise his question-dodging. He started by implying that he could not answer because of the inquiry that is under way into the Kebatu release.
Let me just remind him that he was a justice minister that allowed our prisons to get to this state in the first place and it’s now for us to fix the mess that we’ve got into.
It’s important that Dame Lynne Owens can now continue her work and understand what is happening. He knows that early releases begun under their watch in 2021.
He unleashed an outburst of indigation.
Get a grip, man, I know I’m the justice secretary, that’s why I’m at the despatch box. We know that there have been spikes since 2021 under his watch. When did he come to this house and apologise?
And he repeatedly attacked the Tory record.
I spent 14 years in opposition and I did a hell of a lot better than he’s just done. I have answered the question. Under their watch, prisons were in a mess. Suicides went up. Prison officers cut – 20,000 neighbourhood police lost. We’ve deported more in the last year than they deported in the last five years. I’m not going to take any lecture from [Cartlidge].
But none of this could successfully cover up the fact that Lammy was avoiding the question.
So Cartlidge was doing quite well. But right at the end, he seemed to blow it. He miscounted his questions, and thought he had one more question than he actually did. Reporters in the gallery concluded that he was planning to use his final question to reveal that there had been another inadvertent prisoner release, but did not get the chance. As PMQs went on, the Tory frontbench seemed to be looking for another Tory MP willing to make this point. They even tried to recruit Rishi Sunak, it seemed, but the former PM did not want to oblige and stuck with his question about prostate cancer. In the end, Cartlidge had to use a point of order to pose what would have been his final question.
Kemi Badenoch probably won’t be asking him to deputise for her again any time soon.
Pantomimes are also about costumes, and the released offender row at least overshadowed Lammy’s actual PMQs gaffe – turning up without a poppy. On rightwing social media, this seems to be the biggest Labour insult to the war dead since Michael Foot’s donkey jacket (which was an entirely confected scandal, and not an actual snub to members of the armed forces at all). In reality – Lammy would have saved himself a lot of bother if he had had a poppy on from the start, but that’s an oversight, not an insult.
‘Second asylum seeker’ inadvertently released from jail, MPs told – after Lammy repeatedly dodges questions on this at PMQs
PMQs is over.
James Cartlidge raises a point of order.
He says the Telegraph is reporting that a manhunt is underway “for a second asylum seeker mistakenly freed from prison”. Was Lammy aware of this when he refused to answer Cartlidge’s question on this.
Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says Cartlidge has put his point on the record.
Cartlidge was referring to this story, which Charles Hymas, the Telegraph’s home affairs editor, is tweeting.
A manhunt is under way for a second asylum seeker wrongly freed from prison
An Algerian man, 24, was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth in south London on Wednesday last week. However, the Metropolitan Police was only informed at lunchtime on Tuesday.
Rishi Sunak, the former Tory PM, asks Lammy to back a national screening programme for prostate cancer.
Lammy says he has family members with prostate cancer. He says he personally is “biased” on this. But it’s a matter for the health secretary, who is considering the case for a screening programme.
Tom Rutland (Lab) asks if the government will ensure that the recommendations from the review of maternity services being carried out by Lady Amos are carried out in full.
Lammy says Amos is a friend of his, and her recommendations will be considered.
Adam Thompson (Lab) asks what Lammy thinks about the Reform UK and Tory politicians saying the minimum wage is too high for young workers.
(Nigel Farage said it was this week.)
Thompson asks if Lammy thinks Farage is earning less than £10 an hour from any of his many jobs.
Lammy says Farage makes money from helping to sell gold bullion. He says there are people on the minimum wage earning less than 1% of what Farage is on.
Pete Wishart (SNP) asks why the defence secretary described the Scottish government as a threat to national security in the Commons earlier this week. The government won’t say that about China, he says.
Lammy says the people of Scotland are not a threat to national security.
He says has done a DNA test, and he is 5% Scottish.
Lammy was not wearing a poppy at the start of PMQs, but he has been given one, and is wearing it now.
But Bob Blackman (Con) makes a reference to this with a question about Remembrance Day. He says he is proud to wear both the poppy and the marigold, which commemorates Indian soldiers.
