Met Police will stop routinely acting on tag breaches of under an hour amid pressure from early prisoner release

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says he is 'worried' about the strain the government's early release scheme is putting on policing. Officers are handling more than 100 tag breaches a day and arresting two or three recalled early-release prisoners every week for further offending. The pilot runs until the spring. Arrests will follow only where safeguarding concerns are high.

Short curfew breaches and dead tag batteries will be ignored unless the offender poses a particular risk.

Scotland Yard expects the change to cut the number of breaches that require a police response by more than 15 per cent.