Where Is The Money For Boris Johnson's Crackdown On Crime Coming From?

13 August 2019, 12:09 | Updated: 13 August 2019, 12:12

As Boris Johnson announces a new £100 million investment to crack down on crime in prisons, Tom Swarbrick asks where the money for his promises is coming from.

Boris Johnson has pledged to spend 100 million pounds of new money (on top of the 70 million pounds previously committed and allocated) to crack down on crime.

The funds will be used to get 20,000 more police officers on the streets and to make 10,000 additional prison places.

It will also target violence in prisons including self-harm, drug smugglers and to stop gangs running operations from jail for offenders seeking to contact their victims in the outside world

Tom Swarbrick asked Edward Argar, Under Secretary for Justice and Member of Parliament (MP) for Charnwood, where the money is coming from.

Mr Agar said: "The Chancellor has made clear that this is new money and that this is an affordable commitment.

"We've managed the national finances well and carefully since 2010. The fundamentals of the economy are strong."

Tom Swarbrick asked: "Is this an admission of failure within the prison system?"

The MP replied: "No I don't think that's a fair reflection, but what I do think it's a reflection of is this Prime Minister's commitment to investing in law and order, reflecting what I think my constituents and members of public across the country would want us to be doing.

"These measures will improve security at the prison gates to stop drugs and illicit items such as mobile phones getting into prisons, psychoactive substances (Spice) that can fuel a rise in violence in prisons."

Speaking about Boris Johnson's commitment to put violent offenders away for longer, Tom Swarbrick asked:

"Is it the case that you want to see more people go to prison or you want to lock up more criminals?"

Edward Argar said: "It's about ensuring we have the prison places to meet capacity needs and give us enough headroom, and also to tackle overcrowding.

"We want to build modern new prisons which are designed to be safe and secure places for punishment, but also effective when it comes to rehabilitation, provisions of workshops and modern education facilities to break that cycle of offending and help effective rehabilitation."