Lord Falconer, Labour’s Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to Michael Gove’s speech on prisons, said:

“Labour has long argued that the time prisoners spend learning and working should be increased and that prison governors should be given greater autonomy. So I welcome the Government’s change of tone and will look at the details of the proposals.

"But the right conditions also need to be in place to allow prisoners to learn. How can prisons focus on improving the quality of education when violence and drug taking are rife, there is persistent overcrowding and serious assaults on staff are rising?

"People will be sceptical of Michael Gove decrying our persistent failure to reduce reoffending when the last government promised a rehabilitation revolution, which, in the words of the Chief Inspector of Prisons, we are ‘still waiting for.”