Tories pledge 50,000 new prison places to end early releases

A plan to build 50,000 cells

Kemi Badenoch has pledged to build 50,000 new prison places in England and Wales to bring an immediate end to the early release of offenders, if the Conservatives return to power.

The opposition leader promised the massive expansion—which the party describes as the largest since the Victorian era—on the eve of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. The party says the plan will cost £2 billion a year to build and run, funded by deep spending cuts to foreign aid, culture, and government communications.

How the plan would be funded

To pay for the £2 billion annual bill, the Conservatives plan to slash the international development budget to £1 billion a year. They would also cut £1 billion from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and claw back £500 million by reducing Cabinet Office communications spending.

The party claims it can deliver the vast majority of these new places within a single five-year parliament, with the full 50,000 finished within seven years. To hit this rapid timeline, the Tories say they would introduce fast-track legislation early in a new parliament to override existing planning and procurement barriers, alongside using private finance to speed up construction.

The track record challenge

However, the ambitious target immediately drew heavy criticism over its feasibility, given the party's own recent record in office. Over 14 years of Conservative government, the UK added a net total of just 500 prison places—constructing 14,142 new spaces but losing 13,660 to closures and dilapidation.

Badenoch conceded that the capacity delivered by her previous government was "nowhere near enough." But she argued that the solution was to expand capacity rather than "papering over the cracks" by letting criminals out.

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson dismissed the proposal as "not credible," accusing the Tories of taking the public for fools after leaving the criminal justice system at breaking point. Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, also ridiculed the plan, calling the idea that the party would build 125 times more spaces than they managed in 14 years "pure fantasy."

Staffing and operational hurdles

Constructing the physical cells is only part of the challenge. The Prison Governors’ Association welcomed the idea of long-term investment but warned that an ongoing "staffing crisis" in the prison service would pose a severe bottleneck to actually running 50,000 new spaces.

Currently, prisons in England and Wales are running at 98% capacity, with about 89,000 useable spaces. Under temporary rules brought in to prevent jails from overflowing completely, eligible offenders serve just a third of their fixed-term sentences behind bars instead of half.

Around 5,000 prisoners are expected to be freed early over the next year under the current scheme, which excludes those convicted of murder, manslaughter, sex offences, or driving offences causing death.