Dan Jarvis MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Minister, commenting on the Joint Committee of Human Rights report criticising the Criminal Justice & Courts Bill, said:

On proposals for a secure college:

“This damaging cross-party report is the latest blow to David Cameron’s plans for a giant secure college. Everyone agrees more needs to be done to tackle youth re-offending, but spending £85 million on an untested vanity project will do little to help with rehabilitation.

“The report confirms that the Government’s proposals have questionable legality and may breach the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, something Ministers dismissed when raised by Labour. Chris Grayling would be wise to heed the advice of the Joint Committee, Labour and experts in the field and ditch his plans for a teenage titan prison, and instead invest this money in reducing re-offending in the existing youth justice system”

On proposals for judicial review:

“Judicial Review has been crucial in holding the state to account, and exposing unlawful wrongdoing and incompetence. This report exposes David Cameron’s Government’s attempts to severely curtail judicial review so they would be insulated from challenge. We welcome the support from the Joint Committee for Labour’s recommendations to restore the integrity of judicial review. To ignore this advice would be a recipe for bad policy making, and a destructive act from a Government with increasingly little respect for the rule of law”