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Hello, this is David Kornock at Westminster.

On Tuesday, the 11th of March, the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, told MPs that she

wouldn't hesitate to change the law if the sentencing council doesn't back down in a row

over so-called two-tier justice.

The council says judges in England and Wales

should review the lives of offenders from minority and other backgrounds before sentencing them.

The Sentencing Council issues guidelines to judges and magistrates in England and Wales.

From next month, judges will be told to consider the background of offenders,

including ethnic minorities and pregnant women, before deciding on a punishment.

Shabana Mahmood wrote to the Council to suggest a rethink. It wrote back, telling her it wasn't

for politicians to dictate sentencing. Her conservative shadow, Robert Jenrick, doesn't like the guidance either,

but he thought he knew who was to blame. After I brought this to her attention last Wednesday,

her team briefed the papers that she was, and I quote, incandescent. Well, was she incandescent at her officials or at her own failure to read her papers and do her job properly?

Secretary of State.

I mean, the shadow Lord Chancellor's amnesia continues because he has clearly not done his own work.

He's forgotten that it was his government that was consulted extensively

on this guidance. Robert Jenrick had another go. In 21 days' time, by the Justice Secretary's

own admission, we will have two-tier justice. Her plan to fix this won't come into effect

for a year. That's unacceptable. As she's been too lazy to do her

job, I'll do it for her. He produced an A4 sheet of paper and began to wave it about. Today I am

presenting a bill to block these two-tier sentencing guidelines and to fix her mess. It's here, it's ready to go, will

...