Badenoch pledges 50,000 new prison cells to end early release scheme as Tory conference opens in Birmingham

From the Newshound archive · first published 4 October 2026.

Kemi Badenoch has pledged to build 50,000 new prison places in England and Wales at a cost of £2bn a year, funded by slashing the foreign aid budget to £1bn and cutting the budgets of the DCMS and Cabinet Office. The pledge comes as hundreds of prisoners were released early on Thursday under Labour's new scheme, with around 4,500 more expected to follow by next summer. Conservatives are meeting in Birmingham on Sunday for their annual conference, with prisons currently running at 98% capacity.

Badenoch said: 'A violent criminal doesn't become less dangerous just because the government has run out of prison cells.'

Labour's Bridget Phillipson hit back, noting that over 14 years in government the Tories managed only 500 additional prison places while shutting 23 jails.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said the 50,000 places would take six to seven years to build, with the vast majority completed within one parliament.