Member

Amendments 6, 18 and 19 to 29 are there not purely on punitive grounds but as common-sense safeguards to ensure that offenders who pose a genuine risk cannot bypass custody simply because of the pressures on our prison system. They would guarantee that sentences remain proportionate and enforceable, and therefore pay respect to the victims of crime. The public, after all, must have confidence that serious crimes are met with serious consequences. That was the only mention this Government made of sentencing in their manifesto, and we on these Benches agree with it, yet Clause 1 seems to severely jeopardise that simple principle.