The draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024

What happened: On 25 July 2024, the House of Commons voted to approve the draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024. The motion passed by 323 votes to 81. The Order changes the rules governing how much of a prison sentence certain offenders must serve in custody before becoming eligible for release on licence (a form of supervised release in the community).

Why it matters: The Order reduces the standard proportion of a sentence that most offenders must serve in custody from one-half to two-fifths of their sentence, with some categories of serious offenders excluded from the change. In practical terms, this means eligible prisoners could be released earlier into the community under supervision. The government argued this was necessary to relieve severe pressure on an overcrowded prison system, while opponents argued it risks public safety by releasing offenders sooner and undermines the deterrent effect of sentencing.

The politics: The vote divided sharply along party lines. Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted unanimously in favour (319 combined), joined by the Greens and one independent. All 74 Conservative MPs who voted opposed the measure, alongside all five Reform UK MPs who voted and two Democratic Unionist Party members. There were no notable cross-party rebels in either direction. The vote came just weeks into the new Labour government's first term, reflecting both an inherited prison capacity crisis and a deliberate policy choice to prioritise supervised release over indefinite custody.