TORY justice spokesman Robert Jenrick hit out in Parliament on Wednesday over the Government’s ‘shocking new sentencing guidelines’.
He accused the Sentencing Council of creating a ‘two-tier’ justice system and said the new rules sent to magistrates meant that white criminals would be more likely to be jailed than offenders from ‘ethnic minorities and faith minority communities’. Mr Jenrick called for Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to overrule the independent Sentencing Council, which highlighted the ‘critical role’ of pre-sentence reports. He has argued the guidance will discriminate against straight white men.
By yesterday the MSM had caught up and the predictable leftist outrage at Jenrick (rather than the guidelines) dominated their coverage, the Guardian saying he should attack past guidelines, not the new ones. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/mar/06/jenrick-mahmood-trumpism-sentencing-guidelines-keir-starmer-micheal-martin-uk-politics-latest-news On the BBC’s Today programme, presenter Emma Barnett cut Mr Jenrick off when their interview descended into a fiery clash. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/emma-barnett-robert-jenrick-bbc-radio-4-b2709981.html
The Telegraph reported that Ms Mahmood ‘has already urged the Sentencing Council to abandon the rules’ and is understood to be considering whether to change the law to give Parliament powers to veto future guidance. She claims, however, that she is currently powerless to stop the new guidance coming into force next month. If that is the case, it is another example of an unaccountable ideologically driven quango undermining the democratic process.
Jenrick might also call for the Sentencing Council to be disbanded, as well as a Judicial Review of these particular guidelines. The Council has form, as they say in legal circles.
For a completely dispassionate account of what the guidelines are and what they mean, here is the admirable BlackBeltBarrister.
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