Alex Cunningham comments on plans to increase magistrates’ sentencing powers

Alex Cunningham MP, Labour’s Shadow Courts and Sentencing Minister, commenting on plans to increase magistrates’ sentencing powers, said:

“After a decade of cuts and court closures from this high-on-tax, soft-on-crime Conservative Government, this is another sticking plaster to deal with a backlog crisis they have created.

“Ministers must give assurances that greater powers for magistrates won’t inflict even more burden on crown courts – with increased numbers of appeals overloading a diminishing number of criminal advocates left in the system.

“Labour would rapidly extend the use of Nightingale Courts to give victims the justice, security and respect they deserve.”