Kemi Badenoch has urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to rush through emergency legislation preventing the early release of hundreds of prisoners — including violent and sexual offenders — scheduled for September.

The Conservative leader said she would support emergency laws to stop rapists and killers serving substantially reduced sentences (The Telegraph). She was expected to make the demand at a press conference alongside victims on Tuesday.

Badenoch specifically called on Burnham to scrap legislation due to take effect on 2 September and to recall Parliament — cutting short its summer break — if necessary, to exempt the most serious violent and sexual offenders from early release (BBC News). Dangerous offenders, she said, would begin walking free on Tuesday 1 September, the day after MPs return from summer recess.

'Without emergency legislation, dangerous violent and sexual offenders will be released at the start of September,' Badenoch said (AOL). At her expected press conference, she added: 'It's all well and good cutting bills and bus fares, but that pales into insignificance when paedophiles and rapists are about to be let out on our streets' (BBC News).

The early release scheme would have seen roughly 700 prisoners freed in its first phase in September. The scheme, designed to relieve overcrowding, could have released thousands of prisoners in England and Wales after they served a third of their sentence (BBC News). Under the Sentencing Act, eligibility for early release depends on the length of a prisoner's sentence rather than the type of crime committed (BBC News).

Burnham announced he was pausing the scheme last week after a backlash from survivors and victims. The Conservatives say the government's review of the scheme will not actually stop offenders being released (BBC News).

Conservative shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said victims should not have to spend the summer living in fear while waiting for a review, and called on Labour to halt the mass release of dangerous criminals (BBC News).

A Labour Party spokesperson pointed to the Opposition's own record. 'The Conservatives have some nerve. During their 14 years…' the spokesperson said, adding: 'It's this government that is fixing the Tories' mess' (BBC News).

Early release from prison was first used by the Conservative government in 2023 because of overcrowding. By June 2024, before Labour took office, 10,000 prisoners had been released early (BBC News; UK Parliament).

The scheme and demands for emergency legislation have been discussed in parliamentary debates on 21 January, 3 February, 7 July, and 13 July 2026, according to Hansard — the official record of proceedings in Parliament (House of Commons Hansard, 13 July 2026; House of Commons Hansard, 7 July 2026; House of Commons Hansard, 3 February 2026; House of Commons Hansard, 21 January 2026).

During the 7 July debate, an MP said the government had 'folded' on the early release scheme but could not explain the plan, and asked whether emergency legislation would be brought forward (House of Commons Hansard, 7 July 2026). The 13 July debate on the Immigration and Asylum Bill included a reference to the Early Release Act 2020, which passed through Parliament in approximately 15 days (House of Commons Hansard, 13 July 2026).

The broader context here is the political volatility of prison policy where devolved and reserved responsibilities meet. The early release scheme applies to England and Wales, where sentencing and prisons are not devolved to regional governments. But the political pressure on Burnham is acute precisely because the eligibility criteria — based on sentence length rather than offence type — cut across public reassurance on violent and sexual crime. The precedent of the Early Release Act 2020, which went through Parliament in roughly 15 days, will invite scrutiny of whether emergency legislation could be passed before 1 September, were the government to shift from pausing the scheme to reversing it in law.

In terms of Commons arithmetic, Badenoch's offer to back emergency legislation puts the onus on the government to either accept those terms or justify the difference between its pause and a full revocation. The government's review, announced last week, runs on a timeline the Conservatives are framing as too slow given the September release date. Whether the government treats the pause as a step towards legislative change or merely a holding position is the operative question as Parliament approaches its return from recess.