Member

I support the amendments tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) relating to suspended sentences. I think that she did an excellent job in laying out the deep, deep flaws in the Government’s plans, which I agree are being driven by ideology and belief rather than reality. I think that her amendments in themselves demonstrate the number of ways in which these measures are not sufficiently robust, containing so many gaps and loopholes that those amendments seek to address. Let us be clear: the courts already do everything that they possibly can to avoid custodial sentences. They are required by law to set the minimum sentence possible that still meets the interests of justice.