Martin Daubney snaps at British hacks and tells them they showed ‘dereliction of duty’ after major Labour announcement
Martin Daubney has launched a scathing attack on journalists for what he called a “dereliction of duty” during a major Labour announcement on prison overcrowding.
Speaking on GB News, Martin expressed frustration that reporters failed to ask tough questions about foreign nationals in British jails.
“I thought the journalists in that room didn’t ask the questions everyone watching this programme and everyone in this country wants answered,” he said.
He specifically highlighted concerns about “13,000 Albanians, 1,000 Polish prisoners” and questioned why they should remain in British prisons at taxpayers’ expense.
Martin hit out after GB News were ‘denied a question’
GB NEWS / POOL
GB News was reportedly not given the opportunity to ask questions at the government briefing.
The government announced today that male prisons in Britain are 99 per cent full and will run out of space by November.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Speaking at a Downing Street press briefing, the Ministry of Justice’s interim permanent secretary Amy Rees warned of the impending crisis.
“The total prison population is 88,087 and the adult male estate is operating at approximately 99 per cent of its capacity every year,” she said.
“On our current trajectory, the prison population rises by 3,000, and now we expect to hit zero capacity, to entirely run out of prison places for adult men, in November of this year.”
The government has announced plans to start building three new prisons this year to address the shortage.
Martin Daubney locked horns with Nigel Nelson on the matter
GB NEWS
Martin criticised the government’s plan to build more prisons at a cost of £4.7 billion, arguing that deportation would be a more effective solution.
“You could get 10,000 spaces at the drop of the hat if you had a serious government, serious about protecting the British government,” he claimed.
He pointed out that the proposed solution would take until 2031 to create 14,000 more spaces.
“This government might not even be in power by 2031, it’s a long-term solution,” Martin said.
Shabana Mahmood makes major prison reform announcement – WATCH
He also questioned the government’s spending priorities, noting: “We were told there’s no money left for pensioners but now there’s £4.7 billion.”
Martin expressed frustration with what he sees as obstacles to deportation.
“We’ve got a returns deal with Albania. Most prisoners of violent origin in British prisons are Albanian,” he stated.
“We’ve got a system where we’re tied in knots by human rights lawyers and we can’t deport because of bloody chicken nuggets. We can’t deport because of these ridiculous rules.”
GB News Senior Political Commentator Nigel Nelson offered a different perspective, noting: “We have the foreign transfer scheme where we can transfer foreign prisoners to a country which agrees to take them.”
“We’ve got the deal with 110 countries but unfortunately, we lost the automatic right to do that with the EU when Brexit happened.”
“Don’t blame Brexit,” Martin responded.