Sadiq Khan MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to the government’s announcement on automatic release, said:

“No amount of headline grabbing announcements can detract from the weakening of public protection against the most serious and violent offenders that happened on this out of touch Government’s watch when they abolished indeterminate sentences. As so often with David Cameron, the reality of reforming criminal justice is very different to the rhetoric.

"Under Labour, judges and magistrates will set out in plain English a clear minimum and maximum time that will be served in prison, so victims of crime know how long sentences will be.”