Jenrick Slaps Down BBC Spin on Sentencing Softness for Minorities – Guido Fawkes

Jenrick Slaps Down BBC Spin on Sentencing Softness for Minorities

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Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick was on the morning media round today to talk about the growing row over the latest Sentencing Council guidelines. The new rules require pre-sentence reports for ethnic, cultural, and faith ‘minorities’ – a move that some say reduces their chances of being sent to jail. Justice Secretary Mahmood claimed she knew nothing about it, despite having a representative, Claire Fielder at the meeting that signed it off…

Over on the Today Programme, presenter Emma Barnett went on the attack, saying that this guidance was actually approved in February last year under the Tory government. Jenrick wasn’t having it. He swiftly fact-checked Barnett, pointing out that what she was referring to was a draft report, which said judges “may” consider pre-sentence reports – not require them, as this latest guidance does. He also reminded her that then-Justice Secretary Alex Chalk had called the guidance “ridiculous”…

Barnett went on to take a swipe at Jenrick for suggesting Mahmood was unaware of the new rules – repeatedly interrupting with “that’s just your perspective”, despite Mahmood admitting she didn’t know about it. Then came a readout from a listener claiming that Jenrick’s warning about discrimination against “straight white men” was “objectively false.” Labour will need to get a handle on this one…