Scandal of IPP jail terms damaged inmates, ex-justice secretary warns

The scandal of “totalitarian” indefinite jail terms has left prisoners profoundly damaged by the “state’s failure” to rehabilitate them, a former Tory justice secretary has warned.

Alex Chalk KC said Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms are “overbearing” and “unfair” as he urged his successor Shabana Mahmood to look carefully at fresh proposals to end the historic wrong.

In a candid interview after leaving government a year ago, he described the abolished jail terms as a “state overreach” which have left thousands languishing in prison for up to 22 times longer than their original tariff.

He told The Independent and the podcast Trapped: The IPP Scandal: “If you take the time to explain to people how the state has got things wrong and that this is a state overreach, and that ultimately it has acted in a way which is overbearing, unfair and almost totalitarian, then I think that offends against most British people’s sense of justice.”

More than 2,500 inmates are still trapped under the outlawed jail terms, which have been described by the UN as “psychological torture”. They were abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely.

Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for robbing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery.

Mr Chalk, 48, a barrister who first encountered the sentence when he was prosecuting cases in the criminal courts, said he tried to address the “toxic legacy” of the jail terms when he ushered in changes by reducing the IPP licence period from 10 years to three.

Almost 1,800 people have had their licence terminated in the community following his reforms, passed under the Victims and Prisoners Act before last year’s general election.

He said that although many had committed serious offences, whether you consider yourself a “bleeding heart” or “tough on crime”, the jail term “offends against people’s sense of fairness in Britain”.

“There is not a single vote in taking that 10-year minimum period for an IPP down to three years,” he said. “A, because most people don’t understand it and B, insofar as they do understand it there is no sympathy for those individuals.

“But I did it because I thought it was right. I did it because I thought it was right and I’m absolutely sure it was the right thing to do.”

However, while in Rishi Sunak’s government, Mr Chalk stopped short of accepting recommendations from the justice committee that all IPP prisoners should be resentenced. The decision was branded “not good enough” by campaigners after 94 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives as they lose hope of ever being released.

He warned that Ms Mahmood has a tough problem to solve as she considers fresh proposals from the Howard League for Penal Reform and former top judge Lord John Thomas to end the injustice by giving prisoners a release date at their next review by the Parole Board within a two-year window.

He admitted some prisoners who are automatically freed from regular, determinate jail terms would not pass the Parole Board’s release test, but this is still demanded of all IPP prisoners.

In some cases, he believes their long-term incarceration is what has made them too dangerous to pass this test.

He said: “So the injustice can be framed as follows: that you have people who were considered dangerous, but for whom there was hope for rehabilitation some 10, 15, 20 years ago, and yet the experience of being in custody, of having languished under these unfair orders, has for some turned them into extremely volatile and dangerous people.

“And so the exam question is, how do you right this historic wrong without leading innocent members of the public to pay the price for the state’s failure?”

He continued: “The wickedness of it is, as I say, the state is very much part of why they are too dangerous. So what do you do? Well, I think that the proposal that the Howard League and Lord Thomas have come up with is certainly worthy of careful consideration.”

Although he would be “twitchy” about agreeing to a release date for remaining IPP prisoners within a two-year window, Mr Chalk “wouldn’t rule it out” if it came with additional safeguards such as tagging and enhanced monitoring.

This would ensure prisoners were “guided, as it were, not to a cliff edge from custody to freedom but much more of a glide path towards a rehabilitated future”, he said.

However he backed the Howard League’s calls for fewer IPP prisoners to be recalled for minor breaches of licence conditions, agreeing that the threshold is currently “too low”.

“Our duty as the state is to throw all the resources we can at making this person better to try to get them to stand on their own two feet to lead a law-abiding life, and that is our obligation,” he added.

The Howard League’s proposals were put together by a panel of Britain’s top justice experts led by Lord Thomas, who served as lord chief justice from 2013 to 2017.

The ex-judge, who is a member of the House of Lords, believes the “practical solutions” could be the last chance to help those on the jail term, warning that without action some IPP prisoners will languish in jail until they die.

Urging the state to take responsibility for its own mistakes, he insisted “enough is enough”, noting that if these prisoners had committed their crime a day after the sentence was abolished, they would have long been freed.

“It is time to address this problem in the way we have set out, which produces justice and minimises risk as much as possible,” added the judge, who last year backed The Independent’s campaign to review IPP sentences.

The government has said ministers will “carefully consider” the Howard League’s recommendations.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “It is right that IPP sentences were abolished. IPP prisoners are considered for release by the independent Parole Board every two years and those who are deemed safe will be released.

“The government is supporting IPP prisoners to achieve their release but this must be done in a way that does not put the public at risk.”

Mr Chalk’s interview will also be featured in Trapped: The IPP Prisoner Scandal.

Pilots union furious after report says fuel switches cut off before crash

A pilots’ union has hit out at the initial report into the Air India crash for raising the possibility of human error.

The preliminary report published by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is part of the ongoing probe into what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to come down, found that fuel control switches were moved to “cut-off” position as the aircraft rose from take-off.

Experts have since said it is not easy to “accidentally” cut off fuel switches.

The 15-page document also includes a conversation between the pilots on the fuel controls before the crash. “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut-off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” it stated.

In a statement issued in response, The Hindu reported the Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA-I) said: “The tone and direction of the investigation suggest a bias toward pilot error. ALPA-I categorically rejects this presumption and insists on a fair, fact-based inquiry.”

Victims’ families are stunned following the report’s release.

Badasab Syed, 59 – who lost his brother, 49-year-old IT professional Inayat Syed, his sister-in-law, and their two children in the tragedy – told the BBC he has just been left with more questions, as he asked whether the tragedy was “avoidable”.

Of the 242 people onboard flight AI171 to London Gatwick on 12 June, 241 were killed, including 53 British nationals. The flight crashed into a hostel complex at Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College in Ahmedabad, also killing several students and residents on the ground. Only one passenger – a British-Indian man seated in 11A – survived. A total of 260 people died in the tragedy.

Minister hints at tax hikes for middle class – but rules out rises for people on ‘modest incomes’

Labour has left the door open to higher taxes on the middle classes in Rachel Reeves’s crunch Budget later this year.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander would not rule out tax rises in a series of interviews on Sunday morning, but said the government had pledged not to hike them for “people on modest incomes”.

Asked if the public should expect taxes to go up in the autumn, she said ministers would be guided by “fairness”.

She also told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme that cabinet ministers did not “directly” talk about the idea of a wealth tax – being pushed by unions and former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock – during an away day at the prime minister’s Chequers country estate this week.

The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said her comments “sound to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn”.

It comes as Ms Reeves’s strategy for economic growth appears in tatters after the Federation of Small Businesses said that for the first time, more small firms expect to shrink than grow.

The FSB found 27 per cent expected their firm to become smaller or close over the next 12 months, while just 25 per cent predicted it would expand.

The chancellor has refused to rule out tax rises at the Budget since Labour MPs forced ministers to make a U-turn on welfare reforms, losing the government an estimated £5bn a year in savings.

She is under intense pressure to find more money after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) this week warned that the UK’s finances are on an “unsustainable” path that the government “cannot afford” in the longer term.

On Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer failed to rule out extending “stealth taxes” – as well as the introduction of a wealth tax – as his government struggles to balance the books.

The prime minister reiterated that Labour would stick to its manifesto pledge and ruled out increases to income tax, VAT and national insurance, but he did not confirm whether the government was planning to lift the freeze on income tax thresholds in 2028.

The freezes mean more and more people are dragged into paying higher rates of income tax every year as the thresholds fail to keep pace with inflation.

Lord Kinnock last week suggested a wealth tax would bolster the public finances without breaking Labour’s pledges.

Union leaders, including Sharon Graham of Unite, are also pressuring ministers to consider the move.

Asked by Sky News if such a tax had been discussed at the cabinet away day on Friday, Ms Alexander said: “Not directly at the away day.”

Pressed on what she meant by not directly, the senior minister replied: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that, at the Budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her, and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Asked again if this meant there will be tax rises in the Budget, Ms Alexander replied: “So, the chancellor will set her Budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that Budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

Most people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain want UK to rejoin EU, poll finds – but on new terms

Most people in the four largest countries in the European Union would welcome the UK back into the bloc, a new poll has found – but not on the same terms it had before.

At the same time most Britons are in favour of rejoining the EU, the YouGov survey of six western European nations found, but only if they can keep the opt-outs the UK previously had, such as remaining outside the Schengen zone and keeping its own currency.

The results come just days after Sir Keir Starmer welcomed French president Emmanuel Macron to the UK for the first state visit from an EU leader since Brexit.

The Labour leader has said he wants to fix Britain’s damaged relationship with the European Union for the benefit of “generations to come”.

Now, 10 years after MPs voted to hold the referendum that led to Britain leaving the EU, the poll found that at least half of people asked in France, Germany Italy and Spain, supported the UK being allowed to rejoin, a range that spanned from 51 per cent support in Italy to 63 per cent in Germany.

But the pollster said the results revealed a “public opinion impasse”.

Asked if Britain should be allowed to return on the same conditions as when it left, support fell.

Just one in five across the four countries, from 19 per cent in Italy and France to 21 per cent in Spain and 22 per cent in Germany, agreed, with more than half, 58 to 62 per cent, saying the UK must be part of all of the EU’s main policy areas.

In the UK, 54 per cent supported rejoining the EU, but that number fell to 36 per cent if it meant giving up previous opt-outs. If that was the case, 45 per cent said they opposed returning to the EU.

The final European country polled, Denmark, one of three member states to hold significant opt-outs itself, was more enthusiastic about allowing UK to keep its previous opt-outs, a stance 43 per cent of people said they backed.

The official Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the size of the UK economy will be four per cent smaller over the long term than it would have been without Brexit.

The Independent also revealed earlier this year that Brexit has created a “mind-blowing” nearly two billion extra pieces of paperwork for businesses – enough to wrap around the world 15 times.

When will the heatwave end?

As the UK indulges in a balmy weekend of barbecues and paddling pools, there may seem no end to the current third heatwave of the year.

But forecasters are suggesting that the weather could soon shift to more cooler temperatures.

The Met Office is predicting that the UK will see highs of just 23C degrees in London and 18C in Newcastle on Tuesday.

It follows a weekend of searing heat for many, with the mercury reaching 33C in Ross on Wye on Saturday. In Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, the countries recoreded the warmest day of the year so far.

However, temperatures are forecast to dip marginally on Sunday, with possible highs of 31C, before Monday brings some relief from the baking heat.

Met Office meteorologist Kathryn Chalk said: “While we’ve seen the peak of the heat in this heatwave through today it’s still going to be very warm on Sunday before turning cooler for many of us on Monday.

“So we’ve got this ridge of high pressure extending across the UK, helping to keep things settled, but out towards the west an area of low pressure moving through Sunday night and into Monday.

“So if you’re not a fan of the heat temperatures will be falling away but also bringing some heavy spells of rain, or welcome rainfall, for many of us.”

On Tuesday, rainfall is expected in Wales, the North West and North East of England. Heavy rainfall is forecast for Northern Ireland and Scotland. Temperatures are not likely to go over 25C, with northern England expected to see the coolest conditions.

The cooler weather will continue in the following days according to the weather agency’s long range weather forecast.

The end of the heatwave may come as a welcome relief to many after the scorching weather resulted in UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office issuing an amber heat health alert for six regions from Friday to Monday.

An amber alert means significant impacts are expected or those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, and health and social care services are likely to face increased demand.

The Met Office defines a heatwave as “an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions of the area at that time of year, which may be accompanied by high humidity”.

In the UK, hot weather can only be classed as a heatwave if it meets a daily maximum temperature consistently for three days in a row.

This threshold temperature varies across different parts of the UK.

In London, temperatures need to hit 28C for it to be considered a heatwave, but outside the capital in the north of England and Scotland hot weather can be considered a heatwave if it hits 25C.

But research shows climate change is making these extreme weather events more likely.

A scientific study by the Met Office into the Summer 2018 heatwave in the UK showed that the likelihood of the UK experiencing a summer as hot or hotter than 2018 is a little over 1 in 10.

A new record-high temperature for the UK of 40.3C was recorded at Coningsby in Lincolnshire on the July 19 2022, along with new records for Scotland on the July 19 and Wales on the July 18.

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Mental health care ‘being rationed’ over failure to cut waiting list

Mental health care is being rationed because the government is failing to tackle the spiralling waiting list, the UK’s top psychiatrist has warned, with 48,000 people facing delays of more than two years for treatment to start.

Nearly 1.7 million people were waiting for community care, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist appointment, for treatments including everything from severe depression to serious personality disorders at the end of December 2024.

That is up from 1.3 million in March 2024 and is in addition to the 7.4 million people on the countrywide NHS waiting list, which only counts patients with physical health problems.

Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the figures proved that mental health care was being downgraded in favour of other services.

She said: “It’s very clear that there has been a prioritisation of services; mental health care is not one of those services. As far as I’m concerned, it’s been rationed for years. It’s not been prioritised, full stop. I say that because we’ve got 1.7 million people who were waiting for mental health services.

“They are not being prioritised and so there is rationing of mental health care, full stop.”

Last week, the government launched its 10-year plan for the future of the NHS, which recommits to previous promises to expand mental health teams in schools and create specialist mental health A&Es across the country. However, it does not make commitments to reduce the number of people already waiting to be seen.

It comes as the latest figures reveal:

The Labour government was recently criticised for dropping the previous Tory government’s commitment to grow mental health funding at the same rate or more than the overall NHS budget to tackle the inequality in investment.

Dr Smith said it was “simply illogical” not to invest in good mental health care, as it drives productivity and economic growth.

Meanwhile, the NHS’s director for mental health, Claire Murdoch, said the lack of sufficient care in the community was driving more people to A&E, by which time, patients have often been in crisis for weeks or months without help.

She added: “[That] I think is a bigger scandal than a slightly long A&E wait – if people are losing weeks or months of their lives because we don’t have housing or community packages.”

Addressing the lack of equality in mental health waiting lists compared to physical health, Ms Murdoch said: “Our waiting lists are as important as any waiting list … When waiting lists are at the same level as any other, parity will have been achieved.”

Sarah, 52, a single mother of three, told The Independent of the “horrific” experience of seeing her autistic teenage daughter, Bay, forced to live on a mental health ward for almost two months because there was no community care for her.

Bay, who has autism, was first admitted to a children’s mental health unit in London when she was 16 years old. Her mental health declined, her mother said, and her behaviour became “increasingly unpredictable” during the pandemic after the family moved to London from South Africa.

Despite numerous appointments with child and adolescent mental health services in the community, Bay’s care was “fragmented and inadequate”, Sarah said.

In 2023, as her mental health began to seriously deteriorate, Bay was taken to A&E after she threatened to harm herself. She spent 24 hours there before being admitted to an inpatient unit where she remained for 46 days.

Her mother said she was held in the hospital as they could not find an appropriate residential placement for her, and it was not safe for her to return home. Two months later, a place was eventually found for her in supported accommodation.

She said, “It was horrific. I felt helpless. I’m not a psychiatrist or therapist, and autistic children with mental health issues are often just contained, not supported, and this needs to change.”

“Autistic children are special. We need a different approach – using creativity, understanding sensory needs, offering proper support, not just containment. One positive was that when Bay was in the hospital, it was the first time in a long, long time that I felt that she was safe and that I could breathe. Before that, I had needed to watch her and keep us safe 24 hours a day.”

Sarah Wakeling, CEO at Positive Support Group, which supported Bay at home, said: “Our new analysis underlines the growing pressure on NHS mental health services and the urgent need to rethink how we provide support for these people. The NHS has recently committed to opening new mental health A&Es. But just as important is addressing gaps in early intervention, specialist education, and community-based mental health care – so that we can help people before they need urgent care.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our commitment to improving this through our Plan for Change is clear. We have announced £26m to open new mental health crisis centres, are recruiting an extra 8,500 mental health staff, and expanding mental health support teams in schools across England to cover all pupils by 2029-30.

“We are also funding the expansion of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes, and modernising the Mental Health Act to ensure people with the most severe conditions receive better, more personalised treatment.”