Draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term Recall) Order 2025

Wednesday, 2 July 2025 · Division No. 250 · Commons

333Ayes

–

168Noes

Passed

149 MPs did not vote

leftGovernment wonPro Prison Capacity Reform(Yes)Tough On Crime(No)Pro Early Release Flexibility(Yes)Public Safety First(No)

Voting Yes means

Support changing recall-to-custody rules to allow more automatic early release, accepting this as a necessary measure to manage the prison capacity crisis

Voting No means

Oppose loosening the criteria for early release of recalled prisoners, arguing it is a short-sighted and potentially dangerous response to overcrowding that puts public safety at risk

What happened: On 2 July 2025, the House of Commons voted to approve the Draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term Recall) Order 2025. The motion passed by 333 votes to 168. The order amends the existing rules governing when prisoners who have been released on licence can be recalled to custody, specifically making it easier to return certain offenders to prison on a fixed-term recall basis if they breach the conditions of their release.

Why it matters: Fixed-term recall is a mechanism that allows probation authorities to return a released prisoner to jail for a set period, typically 28 days, rather than keeping them inside until the end of their sentence. The order expands the criteria under which this shorter, fixed-term route can be used, affecting how the probation service and prison authorities manage people released early on licence. In practical terms, this means more recalled prisoners could be returned to custody more quickly and for a defined period, with implications for prison population management, public protection, and the workload of probation services. The vote sits within a wider government effort to reform the early release and recall system following controversy over automatic release policies.

The politics: The vote divided sharply along government-versus-opposition lines, with all 326 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voting in favour and no Conservative, Liberal Democrat, or Reform UK members supporting the measure. Notably, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both voted against, as did Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, the Democratic Unionist Party, and the Ulster Unionist Party, suggesting that the opposition to the order crossed the usual left-right divide. Three Green MPs and three independents joined the government in the aye lobby, a small but visible cross-party element. The vote comes alongside the passage of the broader Sentencing Bill at second reading in September 2025, indicating that this order forms part of a larger legislative programme on sentencing and prisoner release reform.