Nigel Farage has criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for his “non-response” to a grilling on Britain’s “two-tier policing”, amid the Government’s latest move in releasing prisoners early.
Delivering his question to the Labour leader in the Commons today during Prime Minister’s Questions, the Reform UK leader asked Starmer if he was aware of the “growing feeling of anger in this country” that we are living through an era of “two-tier policing”.
Instead of answering Farage directly, Starmer chose to direct the line of questioning towards former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, blaming the Conservative government on the lack of prison spaces across Britain.
Starmer told Farage: “I’m angry to be put in a position of having to release people who should be in prison, because the last government broke the prison system.
Sir Keir Starmer gave a ‘non-response’ to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage over ‘two-tier policing’
Parliament TV / GB News
“The police chiefs made it absolutely clear in a letter to him [Rishi Sunak] before the election that he needed to take action, saying that they wouldn’t be able to discharge their duties, and saying the risk was loss of an ability to detain suspects.
“They warned that further delays until after the General Election will increase the risk significantly. What did he do? He delayed and increased the risks.”
Offering his verdict on Starmer’s response, Farage admitted that he knew the Prime Minister “wouldn’t answer his question directly”.
However, he added that he “really rather enjoyed” being shouted at by Labour MPs in the Commons.
Nigel Farage put the question of two-tier policing to the Prime Minister today in Parliament
Parliament TV
Farage told GB News: “Well, the Prime Minister was not going to answer my direct question in any way at all.
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“And all those Labour MPs screaming and shouting at me, gosh, it felt like being back in the European Parliament. I really rather enjoyed it.”
However, Farage then highlighted the “serious point” of asking the question on “two-tier policing” in the Commons, and agreed with Starmer that Sunak and the Tory government “did not build enough prisons”.
Farage said: “But the serious point, of course, and he’s right, that with a population that has exploded over the course of the last few years, the previous government did not build enough prison places.
“But the whole question of early release, I mean, what is the point of a sentence if people are let out after only serving 40 per cent of it?
Nigel Farage questioned the move by Labour to release the prisoners early
GB News
“One of the people released from one of the northern prisons yesterday had wait for it 109 previous convictions. So that person, I would say, is bound to reoffend.”
Source Agencies