This costly failure has left us all less safe

PROBATION plays a key role in keeping us all safe, supervising over 250,000 offenders in communities.

In 2013, the Tories ignored all the warnings from Labour and others and recklessly part-privatised it.

That was bulldozed through by Chris Grayling, who is now causing chaos in our transport system.

It has been a costly failure that has left our communities less safe.

Under-performing firms received nearly half a billion pounds in bailouts but failed to reduce re-offending.

The Chief Probation Inspector recently called it an “irredeemably flawed” system and said public ownership is a “safer option”.

Labour has led the way on the need to bring probation back in-house. Yesterday, Labour’s motion calling on the Government to scrap plans for new private probation contracts passed in Parliament.

There are now signs that even the Tories are accepting that this is one service that just doesn’t work in private hands.

The Tories must bring it fully back into public ownership. Public safety is too important to leave to half measures.

Labour asked former Prisons Inspector Lord Ramsbotham to set out what a publicly-owned probation service would look like under Labour. His interim report is out this week. It offers the Tories a vision if they are serious about returning probation to the public sector.

Like our healthcare system, our justice system should be in public hands where it can help create a better society, not act as a cash cow for failing firms. APPEAL Burgon