Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to bring in emergency legislation to halt the early release of hundreds of prisoners - a scheme that, in fairness, was originally introduced under her own party's watch.

Burnham announced last week that he was pausing the plan to free about 700 prisoners in September following backlash from victims and survivors. But the Conservatives claim the government's review won't actually stop offenders from being released. The scheme was designed to combat unprecedented overcrowding, which Labour insists was caused by the Tories' failure to build new prisons.

A Labour spokesperson said: "It's this government that is fixing the Tories' mess." Burnham acknowledged the challenge: "It is a challenging situation and we shouldn't actually be in this position as a country, but we have to deal with the reality of where we are."

Early release was first used by the Conservative government in 2023, initially for 18 days, then 70. By early July 2024, before Labour took power, 10,000 prisoners had been let out early. When Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street, fewer than 100 spare prison places remained across the adult male estate, prompting a new release scheme that saw 60,108 people freed between September 2024 and December 2025.

Under the government's new Sentencing Act, passed in January, another 6,000 prisoners were due for release starting September. While the act excludes some of the most serious offenders - murderers serving life sentences, for example - eligibility for early release is based on fixed sentence length, not offence type. So criminals convicted of serious sexual and violent offences with fixed release dates will still leave earlier than expected, albeit with monitoring and recall risks.

Conservative shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan accused the government of being "extremely dishonest" about its release plans, telling the BBC its claims that serious offenders won't be released are not true. Badenoch is calling on Burnham to fast-track legislation to keep serious offenders behind bars.

Speaking at a press conference alongside impacted victims, Badenoch said: "It's quite clear that the prime minister sees that this is a problem, but I don't think he knows what to do about it." Without emergency legislation, she warns dangerous offenders will start being released the day after MPs return from summer recess on Tuesday 1 September. She wants Burnham to revoke legislation coming into effect on 2 September and, if necessary, recall Parliament to exempt the worst violent and sexual offenders from early release.

When asked if the overcrowding crisis was a failing of the last Conservative government, Badenoch admitted: "We did something, it wasn't enough, I'm sorry about that." She suggested long-term solutions include building prisons in communities and renting prison places overseas - though previous UK governments explored sending prisoners to Estonia but deemed the plans too expensive.

Burnham's pause came after criticism from the family of Thames Valley Police officer Andrew Harper, who was killed in 2019. Two of his killers, sentenced to 13 years, would have benefited from the scheme from June 2027. PC Harper's widow Lissie called the plans "deplorable."

A Labour spokesperson fired back: "During their 14 years in office, they shut 23 prisons, created just 482 jail places, and granted early release to 10,000 prisoners - leaving the criminal justice system teetering on the verge of collapse. It's this government that is fixing the Tories' mess."

Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller MP accused the Conservatives of leaving the prison system on the "brink of collapse," while Reform UK's Zia Yusuf noted his party had consistently opposed early release - a policy he said was introduced by the Tories with Badenoch's support in 2024.