Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, has said that the killers of PC Andrew Harper should stay in prison. New sentencing rules coming into force in September could allow two of the men involved in his killing to be freed early. BBC News

Under a law called the Sentencing Act, which starts in September, two of the men convicted in connection with PC Harper's death could qualify for early release. LBC reported that the pair would still qualify under the new rules, despite the controversy it has caused.

Badenoch made her comments in a post on her X account, @KemiBadenoch. She wrote: "I sincerely hope that extends to the killers of emergency workers. My heart goes out to PC Harper's family. There is no justification for this." The same statement was posted on the X account of Mark Harper MP, @Mark_J_Harper. The Daily Express, in its 23 July edition, quoted Badenoch criticising the government over the possible early release. Daily Express

PC Harper's mother, Debbie Adlam, spoke out about the prospect of her son's killers being released early, according to the same Daily Express story on 23 July.

Chris Philp MP posted on X that PC Harper's widow had criticised the early release plan and that Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, was to review the scheme. GB News reported that Burnham froze an early prison release scheme amid the controversy over the potential early release of PC Harper's killers.

The wider picture here is that this issue has brought together some unusual political bedfellows. A Conservative leader, a Labour mayor and the family of a slain police officer are all pushing back against the same law. Think of the Sentencing Act as a set of rules that decides when prisoners can be let out early. Badenoch's argument is not really about the technical details of the law. She is challenging the government on a moral level — asking whether it is right, in plain terms, to release people who killed an emergency worker.

Burnham's decision to freeze and review the scheme adds another layer. Policing and justice in Greater Manchester follow English law, but a mayor choosing to halt a scheme in response to a single case suggests that the government in London may not have the final say on how these rules are applied locally. Whether a mayor actually has the legal power to override the Sentencing Act is something the review will need to sort out.

The fact that Badenoch and Mark Harper posted identical wording suggests coordinated messaging. When political parties post the same statement across multiple accounts at the same time, they are usually testing an argument before Parliament returns or before a big news cycle. Their specific demand — that killers of emergency workers should be excluded from early release — is narrow, but it puts ministers in a difficult spot. They must either change the law to create an exception or defend the principle that the Sentencing Act treats everyone the same.

Andrew Lilico, posting on X on 22 July, shared Badenoch's statement with the caption: "No-one is righteous. Not even one." X The remark is a quote from the Bible. It suggests that some commentators see this controversy as part of a bigger picture, where no political party has a clean record on sentencing.

For the government, the September deadline is now a focal point where opposition pressure will build. Ministers will have to decide whether they can defend the Sentencing Act's provisions for PC Harper's killers in Parliament or whether the political cost is too high. The family's voice, carried by the Daily Express and by MPs from across the political spectrum, means the decision will not happen quietly.

The key unanswered question is whether the early release of PC Harper's killers was meant to happen under the law or whether it is an accident of how the law is being put into practice. That difference matters. If it is a mistake in how the law was written, it can be fixed relatively quickly by ministers. If it is a deliberate policy choice, ministers will have to defend it on its merits.