Draft Home Detention Curfew and Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods (Amdt) Order 2024

Parliament voted on 10 December 2024 to approve the Draft Home Detention Curfew and Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods (Amendment) Order 2024, passing it by 424 votes to 106. The order adjusts the rules governing when prisoners become eligible for release under home detention curfew, an electronic tagging scheme that allows some offenders to serve part of their sentence in the community, and alters the minimum and requisite custodial periods prisoners must complete before release can be considered. The vote advances the government's response to severe prison overcrowding in England and Wales. By amending the thresholds for home detention curfew eligibility and adjusting mandatory minimum time served, the order effectively allows a greater number of prisoners to be considered for early release sooner. It directly affects sentenced prisoners and the operational management of prison capacity, with knock-on implications for the Probation Service, which monitors offenders on tag. The division followed strict party lines. All 310 Labour MPs and 34 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the order, alongside all 64 Liberal Democrats, all 4 Green MPs, and all 3 Plaid Cymru MPs who voted. Against the order were 97 Conservatives, 5 DUP members, 3 Reform UK MPs, and 1 Ulster Unionist, with no Conservative or Reform UK member voting in favour. Two independents voted no and five voted aye. The Conservatives and their allies framed opposition around public safety and the principle of just punishment, while the government positioned the order as a necessary measure to manage an unsustainable prison population.