alex chalk there.nd prisoners that might be released, people might be asking what crimes have they committed and what does that do to the safety of society if people are going to be let out early. people are going to be let out earl . ~ , people are going to be let out earl . y , . people are going to be let out earl . g , ., , ., early. my understanding is that the u-rou early. my understanding is that the a-rou who early. my understanding is that the group who will _ early. my understanding is that the group who will be _ early. my understanding is that the group who will be released - early. my understanding is that the group who will be released even i group who will be released even earlier than currently planned will not include violent criminals or those in prison for sexual offences, also people who are in prison for crimes related to domestic abuse. but look, you will have probably the new conservative opposition, despite what alex chalk said there, i'm sure, shouting that the government is re

but alex chalk did introduce some things. he had a sentencing bill in the king's speech last year.kept in the wash up. there was a thing called the home detention curfew, which survived. but the sentencing bill come through and one key thing that didn't come through was a presumption against short—term sentences, that's under 12 months, a presumption that you wouldn't send people to prison when it is under 12 months. crucially, the conservatives are saying that they did start that building programme of new prisons. they say two have been built, one is being built, one has planning permission and one is waiting to get planning permission. so you might find a strong attack from the government, government sources saying the last government sources saying the last government left our prisons in crisis. they chose to delay disaster by one more day and pursued a scorched earth policy on prisons, leaving this government to clear up their mess. you may find that the conservatives may say actually, we were building more prisons and we did have some core ideas in this area. �* , , , ., did h

alex chalk's majority has gone down to less _ alex chalk's majority has gone down to less than 1000. me here on the promenade is cavendish house, a department— the promenade is cavendish house, a department store which opened two years— department store which opened two years after the death of napoleon. it years after the death of napoleon. it has _ years after the death of napoleon. it has been around for a long time, but house — it has been around for a long time, but house of fraser closed in january. _ but house of fraser closed in january, orapril. it is but house of fraser closed in january, or april. it is one of those — january, or april. it is one of those institutions, and empty shops have been— those institutions, and empty shops have been a feature, not a future, but concern — have been a feature, not a future, but concern from residents. the other— but concern from residents. the other thing _ but concern from residents. the other thing is cheltenham is known for its _ other thing is cheltenham is known for its cyber industries, with gcho in the _ for its cyber industri

the previous justice secretary, alex chalk, to his credit, told the prime minister, rishi sunak, thathing had to be done. either you had to, stop short term sentences. so if you were getting less than a yean you were getting less than a year, well, you wouldn't go to prison. rishi sunak rejected that. or he said, well, we've got to start letting people out now, alex chalk did let prisoners out up to 70 days before the end of their sentence , before the end of their sentence, but that headroom has been exhausted and as you say, the current government has inherited the problem. it knew it was going to get this. it's avoided having to take emergency powers under the civil contingencies act. but i do think it will have to introduce new legislation, which will have to be passed in the next 2 or 3 weeks before the summer recess to deal with the problem. >> and joshua , four year >> and joshua, four year sentences. you know, this isn't shoplifting or parking fines . it shoplifting or parking fines. it can be fairly major drug deals for example, what deterrent effect do you think it sends out

by the former conservative government unsupported by the former conservative justice secretary alex chalkback a moment, there is a longer term question, letting prisoners out early, some prisoners, is an emergency measure, but it will only buy time, 18 months, according to alex chalk. four years successive governments of all stripes have increased sentences for all manner of crimes and sir keir starmer has not yet set out what he will do in the long term, but the appointment ofjames timpson, who employs ex offenders and runs a shoe repair chain, he has had a third of current prisoners should not be there, so it perhaps gives us an indication of the direction of travel.— the direction of travel. harry in westminster, _ the direction of travel. harry in westminster, thank _ the direction of travel. harry in westminster, thank you. - the uk economy grew by 0.4% in may, faster than expected. the office for national statistics said strong performances from retailers and the construction industry drove the increase, after wet weather in april stalled projects and put off shoppers. new figures s

february, the previous conservative government, my information is that the thenjustice secretary alex chalkview commission go. 0bviously of the criminal cases review commission go. obviously there has been a general election and his successor labour's shabana mahmood has taken the same view. the chair will not quit so there has to be a formal bureaucratic process but ministers have no confidence in her at all. we wanted to interview the chair, helen pitcher. she said she couldn't speak before this report is out. she is unavailable today for personal reasons and we are not sure if she will speak in the future. but ministers have a real problem now with this agency because it started a separate internal review and it believes there may be other dna cases it has to look at in light of this. that's a big problem it has to solve in the years ahead, and that means cash, resources, and that is a question for government.— question for government. dominic casciani, thank _ question for government. dominic casciani, thank you. _ the time is 6:19. our top story this evening... the inquiry into the uk'

alex chalk is out. penny maorgan. she helped charles ii is coronation. she is out.he cannot be the next conservative leader. then, she missed out as well. perhaps, not perhaps, but definitely, the highest profile of the conservative collapse was prime minister liz truss. as i mentioned, southwest norfolk doesn't know any color other than blue. why did she lose? reform uk took the best part of 10,000 votes off her and split the vote and let labor in. keir starmer inheritsan economy that's okay, modestly recovered from the shallow recession it's lived in the last two years. uk gdp rose 0.7% in the quarter. inflation returning to the 2% tar target in may. the bank held the policy rates on hold and a rate cut could be coming as early as next month. well, i caught up with the former bank of england depuuty governor and asked about his likely member rachel reeves. >> she is both on fiscal policy and monetary policy. you know, she may want to change a few definitions. maybe persuade the bank to pay slightly different rates on the debt. all of that could be modestly helpful

alex chalk and gillian keegan _ arguing over a comb.uch. already celebrating, the liberal democrats. _ very much. already celebrating, the liberal democrats. they _ very much. already celebrating, the liberal democrats. they are - very much. already celebrating, the liberal democrats. they are on - liberal democrats. they are on course for a record equalling full of seats. in scotland, labour has scooped up seats from the snp. they had 45, now reduced to single digits. this is keir starmer�*s moment to savour. a time he said volvo nation to start a new chapter. —— for the nation. former nurse lucy letby will be sentenced later this morning after being found guilty but the attempted murder of a premature baby girl. she was convicted following a retrial and is serving 14 whole life terms. for the murder of babies at the countess of chester hospital. hurricane beryl has claimed the lives of ten people across the caribbean. it has weakened to a category two storm. hundreds of homes are left without power. the un has released more than £3 mi

jacob rees—mogg as he said there, lucy frazer , alex chalk, grant shapps frazer, alex chalk, grant shappsal change here and how that plays out for the tory party. we'll wait and see to my left is neil kinnock was trying to grab him for you, camilla and stephen, if you can stay with me for as long as you can. but we. yeah, i think it's a real, a change here. we saw that like iain duncan smith holding on because the vote against him was split by a strong formerly labour candidate who now independent. so all sorts of dramas across the board, jeremy hunt hanging on, richard holden. of course, by 2020 votes in basildon and billericay. so i think quite a you know, a dramatic night here, i think for the for the tory party. >> yeah. and as you wait to get your hands on lord kinnock, chris and i know you're keeping your eyes peeled, how much influence has reform had on this election and the, the way this has gone? yeah. >> well, huge. you see, i think for many the reform vote in the nonh for many the reform vote in the north certainly took the, the votes won by boris johnson in 2019. they were sec

swathe of seats across the south—west, including cheltenham, where they defeated justice secretary alex chalk which has been conservative ever since its creation in 197a. there are two main factors in the lib dems' success — the crumbling of the conservative vote in heartlands like here in maidenhead, but also the party's own laser—like focus on places where it had previously come second. their national vote share has barely changed compared to 2019, but the lib dems stacked up votes in key target areas. while people may have laughed at the stunts, behind the scenes there was a serious strategy. how long has this been in the making? we have been working in maidenhead for a long time now. we took control of the council last year. we have been working since 2019 to really cement ourselves in the community so residents that we are known as local champions. at the village hall, kate told us why she supported the lib dems. i used to vote conservative and i'm just so disapppointed in them that it's time for change. do you feel the conservatives lost here or did the lib dems win? hmm, i think the li

so we remained to see whether that tradition will be continued. >> lord chancellor alex chalk is about>> shabana mahmood, who is the present one, is a much shorter than that, but it was absolutely amazing. about this is when the speech is handed to the monarch, and the monarch then reads the speech. and it's not their words, it's the words. it's an obvious point, but a lot of people don't actually appreciate this. and i wonder, the first ones! this. and i wonder, the first ones i went to when the late her majesty read tony blair's speech back in 97, and it was all about banning fox hunting. and i can still remember her voice almost breaking. and prince philip was next. and i said, what did he say? but it is marvellous. and this is so uniquely wonderful about our constitution . the about our constitution. the monarch and the legislature actually come together and it's enunciating the program through. and, of course, what's in the king's speech is then the legislation is then the legislative. >> it's a press release, isn't it? it's a press release for the yeah it? it's a press release fo

. — seat, defence minister, of course, alex chalk, justice secretary has lost his — alex chalk, justice that might be where they end up. so let's talk about with alex salmon, former smp leader, former first minister. now leader of the other party, an alternative independence group. —— alberta party. talking to you. what has gone wrong? it’s you. what has gone wrong? it's agonising- _ you. what has gone wrong? it's agonising. it is of myself and others — agonising. it is of myself and others 25_ agonising. it is of myself and others 25 years to dislodge the labour— others 25 years to dislodge the labour party from his position of preeminence in scottish politics and it has— preeminence in scottish politics and it has been— preeminence in scottish politics and it has been handed back in with racially— it has been handed back in with racially no _ it has been handed back in with racially no effort whatsoever, i find that — racially no effort whatsoever, i find that both albert —— agonising and deeply... will find that both albert -- agonising and deeply- - -_ find that both albert -- agoni

and actually, from last october, alex chalk, the former conservative justice secretary, was releasing ad hoc basis. the difference between that and what keir starmer is proposing is, whereas the conservative government that came before wanted to keep prisoners in for as much of their sentence as possible, but had to release them, here and there, because of massive overcrowding issues. keir starmer is actually working towards a new model where prisoners do serve shorter sentences. and he is also , sentences. and he is also, talking about potentially ruling out those very short sentences altogether. so there would be no more times when people spend, you know, weeks or just a couple of months in prison. there is some evidence that that might be a good step forward in that the reoffending rates for prisoners who've gone into prison forjust a few months is quite high. they do tend to get on a sort of reoffending cycle, but of course the worry for members of the pubucis the worry for members of the public is that if prisoners are released within just after 40% of their sentences, you could

emergency measure, it will likely by the government 18 months according to the formerjustice secretary alex chalke has been reduced? those are some of the questions we can expect to be asked today. {iii can expect to be asked today. of course these are short—term fixes for what is a problem right now in prisons but there are longer term issues, other not?— issues, other not? exactly. sentences— issues, other not? exactly. sentences have _ issues, other not? exactly. sentences have gradually l issues, other not? exactly. - sentences have gradually been inflated ever since the 90s, since john major's government, tony blair as well, average sentences for time in prison increase dramatically. there has been a trend over the last few decades of politicians being faced about concerns about crime responding to concerns by saying, we will send people to prison for longer, we will be tougher on crime, increase sentences for all manner of crimes, and it has led over a long period of time to the situation we are now into day. this is a short—term fix, as you say, and there are questions about what the gover

we know that the justice secretary, the four fs, the justice secretary, alex chalk, had told the primeer, rishi sunak in may that we are about to have no prison cells left and we need to release some people and it said that that's one of the reasons why he called an early election, because he knew he would have to. >> i mean, labour could just build more prisons. now, on the day that they've announced sweeping planning reform and saying that they're going to do that, they're going to, you know, do all of that stuff. i mean, the other option would be for them to build more prisons, not release them. >> can i just say that since 2020, the tories have built two new prisons and they were in the process of building a third so that it's not like they've done nothing in the past four years to have just 700 vacant cells in britain. that's just a horror show committing crimes. >> it's a horror show. and so, you know, the fact is, and keir starmer did say this before the election, which i thought was very honest of him. i watched an interview just 24 hours before polling day where he said there

these emergency measures are likely to buy the government 18 months according to alex chalk, formerjustice the killings of three women in hertfordshire remains in a serious condition in hospital. carol hunt died alongside her daughters hannah and louise following a crossbow attack at their home in bushey on tuesday. aruna iyengar is there for us this morning, good morning to you. the authorities are giving a little more information about the condition of the suspect. that's right. they've been trying to speak to kyle clifford, 26—year—old man who was former soldier. he was detained by police on wednesday evening. he was found near a cemetery in enfield which is around 18 miles from bushey where i am standing. police are waiting to see whether they can question him in connection with the killing of three women here in bushey, three women who were killed with a crossbow on tuesday evening. they were carol hunt, hannah hunt and louise hunt, and yesterday was a day of remembrance for those women who died. the father of hannah and louise, john hunt, is a bbc racing commentator. there was a vigi

alex chalk was saying to the bbc earlier that the conservatives had considered this, but it was overruledongering. conservatives now in opposition, saying that this isn't a very good idea at all. saying that this isn't a very good idea at all-— idea at all. thank you for the latest there, _ idea at all. thank you for the latest there, that _ idea at all. thank you for the i latest there, that announcement being made in the last half an hour or so. we will have plenty more reaction to that prison story here on the programme is a little later. the man convicted of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder holly willoughby has been sentenced to life in prison. gavin plumb told an undercover police officer online about his plans to attack the tv presenter and had assembled a kit of equipment to make his plans a reality. the court heard the extent of the shock and fear felt by holly willoughby had been life—changing. earlier, i spoke to our corresepondent lizo mzimba, who was outside court for us, and gave us the very latest on the judge's sentencing remarks. mrjustice murray gave his remarks here a

prisons are hugely overcrowded and ever since last october, alex chalk, the previous justice secretaryrt of ad hoc way to avoid overcrowding of the prison systems. but what keir starmer is proposing is something very different to what the previous government was doing. whereas they wanted to keep prisoners in for at least 50% of their sentences and sometimes had to break that in order to mitigate the overcrowding problems. keir starmer actually plans to reduce custodial prison sentences. he's planning to sort of overthrow the whole model of how prisons work. firstly, it's going to be releasing prisoners from 40% of their sentences instead of 50. and there are big questions over whether that will include violent offenders. the labour party has said . shabana mahmood, party has said. shabana mahmood, the new justice secretary, has said that she doesn't want that to include violent offenders. but often it's very difficult to work out the difference between a violent offender and a non—violent offender. for example, someone who's been in prison for possession of drugs might also have been

alex chalk, penny mordaunt, gillian. keegan.nelan, lucy frazer, chris heaton—harris , victoria. >> he stood down. actually, he stood down. >> so is michael gove. he's also stood down. >> he stood down. welsh secretary david tc davis. he lost his seat . yeah. the chief lost his seat. yeah. the chief whip, simon hart, lost his seat. the transport secretary most people have never heard of lost his seat. don't think he'll be lost. particularly lost his seat. really? i mean, trains didn't work. didn't ever say anything about it. trains were always companies, always on strike. i thought there were laws in place with this tory government to stop these wretched strikes. but no, never did anything about it. >> strikes there wasn't any difference between when there was a strike and the wasn't. i mean, why did they bring why do they bother bringing at all? >> well, hold your breath now. >> well, hold your breath now. >> there's going to be a lot more strikes. now, of course you will say that. >> well, no, they'll be settled very quickly an

unkindly, we've decapitated, if you like , several cabinet you like, several cabinet ministers like alex chalkeally think were going to win chichester. so it's been a tremendous night. and you're right , what tremendous night. and you're right, what ed tremendous night. and you're right , what ed davey tried to do right, what ed davey tried to do was, first of all, grab attention through his various stunts, which the media then duly covered. and having got the media there, they were prepared to listen to our policies on on on carers , on the nhs and so on, on carers, on the nhs and so on, on carers, on the nhs and so on, on sewage and, that was a very successful, campaign. and also we had keir starmer looking a little bit bored and rishi sunak being gaffe prone. so ed davey came across, i think, rather better than those two in the clips, and we were rewarded accordingly. but, you know, the first past the post system is not our form of government. we don't think that's how voting should take place, but we have to use it the way it is and the reality is that we've targeted ruthlessly. we've got

so alex chalk, who was the justice secretary until last week, of course, he's spoken to the bbc and saidould have done exactly the same thing. this was inevitable. he's also saying that actually we should put less people in prison. so he's sounding quite liberal on this. but yeah, the causes of this are simple. let's say , which is that simple. let's say, which is that we put more prisoners in prison than we have spaces . as for the than we have spaces. as for the solutions, obviously it's not ideal solutions, obviously it's not ideal. i mean, in terms of pubuc ideal. i mean, in terms of public safety, we probably do need to have some perspective on this because these are all people who've been sent to prison for less than four years, as far as i understand now. so it was the case that they were already, eligible to be released after 50% of their term. so that's after two years. it's going down to 40, which means that people who would have been let out after two years are now going to be let out after, i suppose, 20 months. now, that's not a huge difference in terms of how safe the publi

first time we've had chichester, first time we've had chichester and the lib dem hands since 1923, alex chalke's a whole range of ministers that we've actually removed through the lib dem targeting and, you know, that's part of the story of tonight. now, you know, reform are complaining. they got, hardly any seats for the number of votes you've got. well, i welcome any converts to proportional representation. >> are you going to work with reform? there is a going to work with reform that for pr you're going to instead of calling an election. >> whatever. many weeks ago it was six weeks ago. should rishi sunak have held a referendum on changing the vote share? because once somebody's in power and they've got a whopping, you know, number of seats like sir keir starmer has, there's no way he's going to change the system. but it could have stood to gain reform got 15% and four seats. >> you got 11% and 70 seats. you're going to give reform some of the seats because actually, proportionally rather ironically, the number of lib dem seats we get is almost exactly going to be the proportion of votes

the former conservative government and supported by the former conservative justice secretary, alex chalkre. so that perhaps gives us an indication of the direction of travel. an announcement is expected tomorrow so more of those details in 2a hours' time here on the programme. dozens of pilot whales have been found stranded on a beach in orkney. it's thought more than 70 of them are out of the water. it is likely to be the uk's largest stranding event in decades. i spoke to our scotland correspondent lorna gordon in glasgow, who told us more. very large pod. this situation is developing. it's thought the whales stranded at some point overnight on this remote beach in an island, one of the orkney islands. it's a very difficult location to get to. there are experts already on the scene. others are following. to give you an idea of how remote it is, it will take at least two ferryjourneys or two flights to get there, but those experts on the scene say there are whales everywhere. a long line of them down this beach. the latest number is that 77 whales have stranded. 12 of those long finned

gillian keegan is almost a straight swing to the liberal democrats in chichester, alex chalk was alwaysht. obviously the rebuild had to come through glasgow, through north lanarkshire, south lanarkshire, out to renfrewshire. you will see they won all six glasgow seats. i think they will take particular pride in winning back gordon brown's seat in kirkcaldy. douglas alexander in lothian east, and jo swinson was beaten here in 2019, well there is the lib dems revenge. what about wales? this is a different story to scotland. conservatives were defending 12, let me fast forward it, they got rid of the welsh secretary, this was a good one for plaid, and that is the constituency with the oldest boundaries going back to 1535, henry viii, and that is a genuine three—way margin that plaid cymru won, they won four seats overnight. when you look at wales, the vote share is down on a pretty poor performance in 2019. vaughan gething then, so not that clever in wales for labour. a good night of cause for the greens, both adrian ramsay and carla denyer, the co—leaders, are in. labour threw everything

which is a new constituency, we'll also be heanng new constituency, we'll also be hearing about alex chalkthat's the justice secretary. and there's lots more results still to come. but, mark, i suppose sir davey, i mean, has managed to restore the liberal democrats from the ashes of its post coalition near wipe—out. >> yeah , i mean, this has >> yeah, i mean, this has bounced back big time. obviously, a lot of mps you're talking about colleagues that lost their seats. a lot of lib dem mps were wiped out as well. on the back of the coalition. i think the distant memory is getting further. i think it's a chance for the party to bounce back. there's been a lot of controversy about whether ed was right to have the stunts and the campaign. i think i was a bit unsure at the start, but actually i think these results vindicate the approach. he got, the coverage he showed he was a human being and against the rather wooden starmer and sunak. i think it was refreshing to see a politician say, look, i can have some fun, but i can also talk serious politics. it appears that that strategy has worked, ha