The toughening-up effort continued with David Cameron’s press conference just now. There he was, at the prime ministerial
lectern, not just announcing a stricter sentencing system than Ken Clarke broached a few weeks ago, but explaining why the government’s change of mind was actually “a sign of strength”.
Out are the 50 per cent sentence reductions for those who plead guilty early. In is a commtiment to jail those caught using a knife threateningly, as well as a bundle of tougher
measures all round. “Being strong is about being prepared to admit that you didn’t get everything right the first time around,” said Mr Cameron, again and again. His other central message
was that, when it comes to restraining the prisons budget, “the right thing to do is to reform prison and make it work better, not cut sentences.”
The question that arises now is, as always, one of cost. Much of the thinking behind Clarke’s original proposals was to save money by locking people up for less time. Now that the government is going in for a steelier approach, one wonders where the savings will come from. When asked about this in the Q&A that followed his remarks, Cameron was unclear and uncertain, although he didn’t rule out the idea that the probation service would have to face more cuts. This, no doubt, will fuel Labour’s charge that the cuts are undermining prisoner rehabilitation. They do like claiming that, just as the Tories did in Opposition.
Cameron’s tough rhetoric didn’t stop with prisons, though. He sounded the usual refrain on Europe: that, beyond our obligations as a member of the IMF, he doesn’t want any more British cash being sucked towards Greece. And then there was his slapdown for all those outspoken generals: “there are times when I pick up the papers in the morning and think, ‘You do the fighting, I’ll do the talking’.” Tough times, indeed.
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