Media Centre

Blunkett calls for consistency in coalition prisons policy

Former Home Secretary, Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, has responded to Justice Secretary Ken Clarke’s speech today on prisons policy, in which he has signalled that he wishes to reduce the number of people in prison in the UK.

When Home Secretary in 2001, Mr Blunkett gave a speech to the National Probation Service conference, in which he sent a message to “violent, sexual and dangerous criminals” that “the more you offend, the tougher and longer the sentence”.

He also raised the possibility of “custody plus” – a rehabilitation and supervision programme for those who had been given short custodial sentences – to reduce re-offending.

Reacting to Ken Clarke’s speech today, Mr Blunkett said: “It would be nice to get some consistency from the coalition about what exactly their sentencing policy entails.

“The Prime Minister, when in opposition, frequently condemned the Labour Government for what he saw as lax sentencing and demanded tougher measures. Now we hear from Ken Clarke that he wants fewer offenders to go to prison.

“The reality is that, as I was saying in 2001, we need a sensible mix of both: to remove those serious offenders who are a threat to the well-being of others from our streets; and also proper community sentencing worth the name for those for whom rehabilitation and restitution will stop them re-offending in the future.”

Mr Blunkett added: “It makes sense at a time of austerity and budget cuts to dramatically expand restorative justice across the country, which we initiated during my time as Home Secretary.

“This also included the community justice programme modelled on Red Hook in New York, which I promoted in Liverpool and Salford and believe should be expanded across the country.

“But we must never forget that the first priority of Government is to protect its citizens. Those who would do us harm and who would deprive the most vulnerable of the freedom to live their lives without fear should always face the strongest sanction.

“The electorate will not forgive politicians who abandon that duty for the sake of a quick soundbite on morning radio, or as a justification for a massive cutback in spending on justice.”

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Notes to Editors

1. Mr Blunkett’s speech of 5 July 2001 to the National Probation Service conference saw the launch of the detailed Halliday Report on sentencing, commissioned by Mr Blunkett’s predecessor, Jack Straw. This was the first major speech on sentencing in the early years of the Blair Government.

If this is what befalls Sheffield, what’s the point of Clegg, asks Blunkett

Rt Hon David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, has reacted with dismay to further announcements of cuts wreaked by the coalition Government on Sheffield, with the city already reeling from the decision to cancel the £80 million loan to Forgemasters – and called on fellow Sheffield MP Nick Clegg to account for his actions.

In addition to the Forgemasters cancellation, the Treasury today announced the scrapping of £12 million intended to regenerate Sheffield’s Retail Quarter, as well as £13 million to be issued through the Regional Development Agency to steel company Outokumpu.

Mr Blunkett said: “This is the second body blow in a day for Sheffield.

“The cuts which the Lib Dems and Tories are directing at the city border on the obsessive and the vindictive. We are talking about £105 million being cut from Sheffield in a single day.

“He may be able to explain one body blow away, but Nick Clegg now has to ask himself what on Earth he is doing in this coalition – and what continuing worth he has as a Member of Parliament supposedly representing the city.

“A member of the Cabinet and Deputy Prime Minister that can see what is happening to the area that he has represented since first coming to the city in 2005 has to answer the simple question: ‘What are you there for?’ ”

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Divide and rule won’t do, says Blunkett

Rt Hon David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, has called on the Lib Dem/Tory coalition to end the uncertainty surrounding the future of the government loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, after it made fresh announcements guaranteeing support for GM Motors.

Mr Blunkett was responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement that support will be given to Nissan in Sunderland, as well as to Business Secretary Vince Cable’s commitment today to make good a government loan to GM Motors’ Vauxhall plant — both of which were originally put in place by the Labour Government.

Mr Blunkett said: "Salami-slice announcements and divide and rule simply will not do for the future of Sheffield.

"Given that announcements have now been made on Nissan and GM Motors, but that the Government continue to refuse to confirm the future funding for Forgemasters, the coalition’s tactics are clear.

"There is a real danger that the decision to pull the plug on the investment in Forgemasters — and the jobs, creativity and world trade that go with the government loan — will be hidden away in next Tuesday’s Budget.

"There can be no other reason for not putting Forgemasters on a par with the other two major investment programmes which the coalition had frozen and on which decisions have now been made.

"Forgemasters — and Sheffield, the MPs for which include Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg — deserve just as much consideration, confidence and capacity to help the wider local economy."

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Blunkett tells Clegg: Savage cuts to services are hardly progressive

Former Education Secretary and Home Secretary, Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, has reacted to Nick Clegg’s assertion that it is "progressive" to embark on massive cuts now to slash the deficit.

Mr Blunkett was responding to the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech today, in which Mr Clegg said that "There is nothing progressive about condemning ourselves and our children to decades of debt" and "fewer jobs", while asking how we could achieve social justice "while our schools and hospitals fall apart".

Mr Blunkett said: "It is a bit rich of Nick Clegg to lament the debt facing young people when he has already abolished the Child Trust Fund savings account of every young person and when his party is preparing to execute an ugly U-turn and go along with Tory plans to hit students with higher tuition fees.

"It also ill behoves him to worry about our schools falling apart when the Government of which he is the deputy leader is refusing to confirm the continuance of the Building Schools for the Future programme."

Mr Blunkett added: "Cutting people’s personal services is far from progressive — and Nick Clegg is not protecting the most vulnerable front line services, including in his own city of Sheffield.

"The coalition themselves have admitted as much to me, when Local Government minister Bob Neill told me in the Commons last week that ‘Those in greatest need ultimately bear the burden of paying off the debt’."

Mr Blunkett pointed to the study, A Tale of Two Cities, undertaken by the internationally-renowned team at the Department of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield, led by Professor Danny Dorling, which highlighted the divide in services and personal well-being between the richer and poorer areas of Sheffield.

He said: "The Lib Dems’ agenda during their time in control of Sheffield has been one of withdrawing services from the most disadvantaged in the city and diverting wealth towards better off areas. Their programme for national government seems to be along the same lines.

"There appears to be a blind spot here, with the media failing to highlight that those without a voice — the least well-off in our society — are facing the biggest cutbacks and the harshest consequences, which well-off commentators and politicians are advocating as ways of cutting the deficit.

"We have an Office for Budget Responsibility. Perhaps we need an independent Office for Government Responsibility, which could point out that David Cameron and Nick Clegg are passing the buck to local government, which will cop the blame for the cuts which are about to befall us.

"Ignoring the pain of those who are already less well off is a hallmark of the detachment of the political class from the reality of life at the sharp end."

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Blunkett responds to first forecasts from Office of Budget Responsibility

Former Education Secretary and Home Secretary, Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, has reacted to the first growth forecasts from the new Office for Budget Responsibility.

The OBR has revised down Alastair Darling’s growth forecast for the year 2011 from the 3-3.25% predicted by the previous Chancellor to 2.6%.

They have also announced that borrowing is projected at £155 billion in 2010-11, down from the £163 billion projected in Budget 2009.

Mr Blunkett said: “The OBR is involved in a self-fulfilling prophecy: the lower the predicted growth, the greater the justification for the coalition Government’s cuts; the greater the cuts, the lower the likely growth.

“This cycle will be followed, somewhere down the line, by the claim that the OBR got it right.

“Of course, the same could not be said for ambitious growth with fewer cuts and a longer-term timescale for getting the deficit down.

“The fact is that predictions of the extent of the deficit have been wrong over the last 18 months; and borrowing has been going in the right direction, as projected borrowing has fallen, not increased.

“This Government must not play fast and loose with the economic recovery – or the most vulnerable, already at risk from cuts aimed at services for the most disadvantaged, will pay an even higher price.”

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Blunkett condemns £3m cut to South Yorkshire Police

Former Home Secretary Rt Hon David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough, has slammed the Lib Dem/Tory coalition government’s cut of almost £3 million in funding to South Yorkshire Police.

Mr Blunkett was responding after the new Police Minister, Conservative MP Nick Herbert, wrote to all chief constables to inform them of a total of £125 million of cuts to police forces up and down the country this year – as well as a £10 million cut in funding for counter-terrorism operations.

According to Conservative Minister’s letter, South Yorkshire will see its Home Office police grant slashed from £110.2 million to £107.4 million – a cut of £2.8 million – in this financial year; and its capital grant will be reduced from £3.3 million to £3.1 million.

Mr Blunkett said: “I condemn this reduction in police funding which is being carried out by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, with all that it will mean for our ability to continue the fight against criminality in our area.

“I especially deplore the £10 million cut in funding for counter-terrorism policing, at a time when we know that the threat to our communities from those who stand opposed to our way of life continues unabated.

“The Liberal Democrats on Sheffield City Council bemoaned, in the resolution which they recently put through the Council, what they said was the shortfall in funding for the police allocated by the previous Labour Government.

“I now expect them to condemn outright the actions of the coalition – of which Nick Clegg is the deputy leader – and the impact their cuts will have on the safety and well-being of people in Sheffield and the whole of South Yorkshire.”

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