Deputy mayor backs early prisoner release plans

West Yorkshire's deputy mayor for policing and crime has backed the government's revised plan to grant early release for some criminals, to help free up jail space.

Under the proposals, those who committed rape, grooming, and serious child sex offences will be excluded from the early release scheme for England and Wales.

Alison Lowe has been answering questions as part of Message the Mayor on BBC Radio Leeds. She also talked about knife crime, e-bikes and becoming a Baroness.

Read our takeaways from the interview below or listen to it here.

Lowe says having to release prisoners early is a "rubbish situation the government inherited" but believes Labour is doing the best it can "under the circumstances".

The deputy mayor says she would like to have seen "all domestic abusers" excluded from release under today's announcement.

"But when you know that 20% of all crime is domestic abuse - and here in West Yorkshire that accounts for nearly 70,000 cases - that's why domestic abusers can't be included, because you wouldn't get the capacity you need to release in the prisons."

"We're alright at the moment. But when I say we are alright, we're at about 94% capacity.

"In October, that looks to be 99% capacity."

Lowe says, if there is no space left, judges will not be able to send people to prison.

And the most serious offenders, like murderers and rapists, might have to be held in police cells, she says.

The figures quoted by the deputy mayor are an average across West Yorkshire's jails. HMP Leeds was actually 97% full as of June, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The deputy mayor was asked by a number of listeners abut the illegal use of e-bikes and e-scooters on pavements and pedestrian-only areas.

"It's a blight on all our communities. And it's not just town centres, it's across all of our communities.

"It's illegal to increase the speed of your e-bikes.

"There are lots of pockets of work across West Yorkshire where we are stopping bikes and checking whether they've been modified or not.

"I've just been campaigning with a Bradford MP (Anna Dixon) trying to get the legislation changed for the modification kits."

As the Home Office prepares to launch a new anti-knife crime initiative, Lowe says the situation here is getting "slightly" better.

But she concedes that serious violence and knife crime offences in Bradford are at a five-year high.

The deputy mayor says a "youth intervention hub" has been set-up to help tackle the problem.

"We are working at a much earlier juncture now with young people who are not yet in the criminal justice system, but they're at the start of being introduced.

"Maybe they're being exploited, maybe they're joining gangs."

She says 100 young people have already been referred to the hub.

Lowe has recently been nominated to become a peer and sit in the House of Lords.

She is is due to be officially appointed in September and says she will continue with both roles unless they begin to clash.

"Any advantage I can bring to West Yorkshire, you can definitely believe that I will be bringing it.

"That's one of the reasons I said yes. I only care about the people of West Yorkshire.

"And that's why I'm going to be Baroness Lowe of Armley - I'll never forget where I come from."