Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I have already referred to the court bench book and to what level of sentencing is being considered. It is necessary to go back to the guidance of the Sentencing Guidelines Council, which says on page 24: "““The crucial difference is that the suspended sentence is a prison sentence and is appropriate only for an offence that passes the custody threshold and for which imprisonment is the only option””." The relevant questions from the guidance are: "““(a) has the custody threshold been passed? (b) if so, is it unavoidable that a custodial sentence be imposed?””," and "““(c) if so, can that sentence be suspended? (sentencers should be clear that they would have imposed a custodial sentence if the power to suspend had not been available)””." Now, if the Government want to remove, "““if the power to suspend had not been available””," the answer is that the sentencer must impose a custodial sentence.