Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to the National Audit Office Report into the Conservatives’ probation reforms said:

“Once again we see how the Conservatives’ part-privatisation of probation has been a costly experiment that has failed to protect the public.

“As Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling ignored all the warnings from Labour and others about the obvious dangers of privatising probation. Yet the Conservatives are still refusing to learn those lessons and are recklessly looking to sign new private probation contracts.

“Labour is fully committed to returning probation to the public sector. The Conservatives now need to drop their dangerous obsession with running probation for private profit and instead bring it back in house where it can focus on keeping the public safe.”