"What ails the British state is that it has built, and is building, what it cannot seem to maintain. A decade of attrition has hollowed out public services to the extent that they struggle to function coherently or plan beyond the next crisis. Under the Tories, state spending grew by just over 1% a year well below the long-run trend of 2.6% per year."
"However, investment without maintenance is just decay. The justice secretary, David Lammy, is right to blame the Conservatives for the failings in state competence. Under Tory austerity, prison budgets were cut by a quarter and a 30% loss of staff gutted the system. As Cassia Rowland of the Institute for Government observes, the result is a slow-motion collapse: a service now staffed largely by overburdened, inexperienced personnel."
"Even if one officer slipped up with Kebatu, the system is not working. There were 262 mistaken releases last year double that in 2023, and quadruple that in 2014. Ministers' solution is to add 14,000 new prison places. These may be necessary, but they won't be sufficient. More jails are probably required, but where is the money to staff them properly?"
A decade of attrition has hollowed out public services, leaving them unable to function coherently or plan beyond the next crisis. State spending under the Conservatives grew by just over 1% a year, well below the long-run trend of 2.6% per year. Fiscal emphasis shifted toward capital spending without adequate maintenance, producing decay. Prison budgets were cut by a quarter and staffing fell by around 30%, creating overburdened, inexperienced personnel and rising mistaken releases. Mistaken releases rose to 262 last year, double the 2023 figure and quadruple the 2014 level. Proposals for 14,000 new places risk failure without properly funded staffing. The OBR has begun to acknowledge the potential returns to public investment.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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