Diana Johnson defends Labour’s knife crime plan amid crisis in prison capacity in England and Wales

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has said that the Labour government’s policies are causing the cost of living crisis started under the Conservatives to “drag on”.

Reaction to the rise in inflation, Davey said:

The chancellor’s misguided policies are putting us at risk of a new era of stagflation. The economy still isn’t growing, and now people are being hit in their pockets too.

The Conservative government plunged Britain into a cost of living crisis, and Labour’s failures are just making the misery drag on and on.

Well, look, we inherited a terrible situation from the previous government, and their failure to make sure that sufficient prison places were built. It is a disgrace. And unfortunately, that’s the inheritance we had.

The lord chancellor had to take some really difficult decisions because of that. We are committed, obviously, to building the 14,000 additional places that we need. That’s coming online.