Robert Jenrick hits out at 'pathetic' David Lammy over 'appalling' prison release figures

Georgia Pearce
Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:48:11 +0000

Robert Jenrick has launched a blistering attack on David Lammy, following the release of a damning new report into accidental prison releases.

Speaking to GB News, Reform UK's Treasury spokesman branded the Deputy Prime Minister "pathetic", expressing his fury at the "appalling" statistics published today.

Dame Lynne Owens set out 33 recommendations in her 200-page report, which revealed that 179 prisoners were released from prison in error in the space of the last year.

Responding to the report, Mr Lammy said he "accepts all recommendations" and vows to move to a "digital system" to bring mistakes down to "almost zero".

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Offering his stark assessment of the report, Mr Jenrick told GB News even "one prisoner released in error is too many".

Mr Jenrick said: "How can we be in a situation where prisoners are being released accidentally? And yeah, maybe the figures are a couple lower than in previous years, but one is too many, and his record on this is absolutely appalling.

"Calamity Lammy, remember him in the House of Commons where he didn't have the numbers, he didn't know what was going on. It's absolutely appalling. We need to get a grip on this. He needs to stop these from happening."

Criticising the "gross incompetence" of the country's prison service, the Reform MP argued that the "strict rules" that Mr Lammy promised to implement are "clearly not working".

He told the People's Channel: "Time and again it happens due to the gross incompetence of the prison service. Yeah, you could have new technology, but there actually has to be someone who is taking responsibility for this.

"And David Lammy said last year that he was putting in place the strictest ever checks. Well, they're obviously not working, are they?

"Because it continues to happen every passing week according to these stats. At least someone is being released onto our streets and that means more people being put in danger and the victims of these crimes, fearful that these horrible individuals will end up back in their neighbourhoods, threatening them or their family once again."

Challenged by host Martin Daubney on how Reform UK would bring down the figures, Mr Jenrick assured: "We want to make sure that there are proper checks and that the prison officers involved are trained in order to stop this happening. It is the sloppiest behaviour that I've ever seen that this continues."

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Detailing how Reform UK would tackle foreign criminals in UK prisons, Mr Jenrick said they would be "removed from the country".

He said: "To do that, you need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, so there are no ridiculous last minute claims that someone can't be sent back home to their own country because they'll be in danger.

"And you've got to use all the levers of the British state, that means no foreign aid, it means revoking or pausing visas to these countries. I can assure you, no visas to those countries that won't even take back their own citizens."

He added: "And this means countries like Pakistan, who have been resistant to taking back even grooming gang perpetrators, having a complete moratorium on visas until they change their tune and take back those individuals.

"And if we can clear out those people from our prisons, then we get space. Not only the prisons could be better run, and so there may not be these catastrophic mistakes happening, but as important, we can get people off our streets like career criminals, the ones who are committing all the shoplifting and so-called minor crimes. Get them off our streets into prisons, keep communities safe."

Responding to the report, Mr Lammy said: "We asked Dame Lynne Owens to look at this carefully. She has provided a 200-page report, 33 recommendations, and I'm accepting all of those recommendations.

"And the thrust is that we have to move to a digital system. We will move to a biometric system so we can follow every prisoner from police contact through the criminal justice system.

"And of course, we will invest in moving from this paper based system where errors are being made, often by junior staff, to a digitally based system over the next few years."