Reform announces new justice adviser and PCC as the party reveals law and order policies

Leader of Reform Nigel Farage took to the stage to discuss the party's policies to repair the justice system as he said, "there is a very strong and growing perception that something is wrong" with all aspects of policing, the courts, and the entire system.

During the conference, the police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire, Rupert Matthews, announced that he has defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK.

Mr Matthews has held the position since 2021, and served as an MEP for the East Midlands for the Tories between 2017 and 2019.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Mr Farage, he said the "dark heart of wokeness" needed to be cut out of the criminal justice system.

"The self-serving, self-entitled liberal elite who have let our country down time after time are now on notice their day is almost done, be they Conservative or Labour governments, everyone knows our politicians have failed us all.

"They have let this country down. They have let the British people down. Enough. Now is the time for Reform."

Vanessa Frake was also announced as the party's new justice advisor.

She has called for bolstered prisoner "rehabilitation" as she accused previous governments of having “failed and failed miserably” on crime and punishment.

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Ms Frake also warned that criminals "lose their support systems on the outside" when they are sentenced, and risk having no other choice than to "get on that crime ladder" after a short time in prison.

Speaking on Times Radio, Ms Frake said: "I read every week negative press about our prison service and drugs, mobiles, violence, suicide, self-harm, etcetera, etcetera.

"And you know, the time is now for somebody to do something about it. Successive governments have failed and failed miserably and, you know, that’s why our prison service now is on its knees."

The former prison governor said: "I’m not naive in the fact that people don’t want to spend money on prisons – they’d rather it went to the NHS, to education – I’m not naive at all about that.

"But actually, if you think about the whole picture, at the moment we’re warehousing prisoners and we’re turning out better criminals into our society.

"I’d like to see it where we actually do some rehabilitation and make our society safer for our children, and that is going to cost money but at least somebody is listening to others."

Ms Frake, who wrote about her previous work in her book The Governor, also referred to a Government scheme which cut temporarily the proportion of sentences certain inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.

"In a prison, now they do 40 per cent of a sentence,” she said.

"There’s very little you can do with somebody who is addicted to drugs, alcohol, has mental health issues. There is very little you can do within a prison at that time.

"And when people are sentenced to short sentences, they lose their support systems on the outside.

"They lose their home if they had one, they lose family support and we let them out with nothing so their only alternative is to commit crime and get on that crime ladder, and that needs to be addressed.

"What I would like to see is much better community services, much better community and substance misuse services outside of prisons, and much better management of prisoners on the outside."

Asked whether she was willing to have a "difficult conversation" with Mr Farage, Ms Frake replied: "He might have his own views but he will listen far more than any other party has listened in the past."