Sadiq Khan, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, commenting on Lord Woolf’s comments on the Strangeways Riot 25 years on, said:

“When someone as eminently qualified to comment on prisons as Lord Woolf expresses alarm then we should all sit up and listen. Changes were made and lessons learnt 25 years ago after the Strangeways riot, but for the current crop of Ministers it’s like it never happened. Deaths and violence are happening far too frequently. Riot squads are called out the equivalent of four times a week. Prisoner on prisoner and prisoner on staff assaults are surging. Inmates are spending their time idling in their cells or on landings instead of working or on training courses. Instead of the rehabilitation revolution promised by David Cameron’s government back in 2010, there is now a full blown prisons crisis.”