Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

These are not philosophical musings on this side of the Committee, as the Minister seems to suggest. We are dealing with practicalities and realities. ““Last resort”” is always mouthed. It has been mouthed for the last 15 years that prison is the last resort, but political pressure has driven the judiciary, whether at the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court, to increase sentences over and again. ““Retariffing””, or whatever word the Minister used—