Reading Liberal Democrats

Local parliamentary campaigner, Lib Dem Cllr Gareth Epps responded with derision to MP Rob Wilson‘s latest half-hearted attack on the government.

In a press statement Wilson criticised Labour’s early release scheme, under which prisoners are let out of prison up to 18 days early to reduce overcrowding, even though many of the problems are a direct result of his own Conservative party’s draconian crime policies in the 1990′s.

Liberal Democrats want to see crime reduced and have introduced many new practical solutions on the ground to acheive this in councils up and down the country. The one thing we know does not work – and the previous Tory government published a report demonstrating this – is to just lock people up.

Gareth said this week, “This is a cheap shot by Rob Wilson – and is ignorant of the facts. The Home Office’s own studies show that you have to increase the prison population by 25% just to get a 1% drop in crime. Keeping prisoners inside an extra few days isn’t going to cut re-offending. You can only do that by rehabilitating, educating and training prisoners so that they go back onto the streets ready, willing and able to get jobs and obey the law. Anything else is just shallow Tory spin.”