SINCE being elected, I’ve routinely seen our political opponents make promises they can’t keep, and whip up populist arguments purely to stoke division.

But there were new lows last week, when the Conservatives made a mess of law and order, and then criticised Labour for fixing it. The fact remains, more UK criminals will end up behind bars by the end of this parliament than at the start.

Ask anyone working in the legal profession and they will tell you that before Labour took office, the criminal justice system was on the brink of total collapse. The Tories had lengthened sentences without planning capacity, adding only 500 prison places in 14 years - which ran the risk of jails running out of space within days, leaving police unable to make arrests and courts unable to sentence offenders.

So, the Tories’ ‘ingenious’ solution to keep the system afloat was to release around 10,000 offenders early - largely in secret.

And that’s backed up by the Conservative Party’s own analysis, which shows that on their watch, offenders were automatically released at the halfway or two-thirds point of their sentences. Between 2022 and 2024, over 62 per cent of jailed rapists and 85 per cent of the most serious offenders benefited from these early-release rules.

In marked contrast, Labour has acted decisively to stabilise the system and protect the public - providing 2,500 new prison places since taking office; and on track to deliver 14,000 by 2031 - the largest expansion since the Victorian era. A new Sentencing Bill will reform release rules and ensure the system never again nears collapse.

It will also deliver punishment that cuts crime - deporting foreign national offenders, reducing remand pressure, and investing £700-million in tougher community punishment with tagging, curfews and unpaid work.

So, it’s pretty staggering that the Conservatives then found fault with our work to repair this shambolic mess. But, perhaps I should not be surprised by our rivals’ continuing efforts to rewrite history and not let the facts get in the way of a good story.

In parallel, here in Cornwall, we’ve seen Reform rise to victory in local elections on the back of a campaign based on divisive and populist slogans, and spurious claims about the levels of crime in the country rather than political realities. A few months in, and they’re already starting to fall apart, with two leaders resigning amid claims of internal conflicts.

Effective politics is about what you do, not what you say.

Our approach is supported by the Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, James Timpson – a businessman with a proven track record of getting thousands of former prisoners back into work. His appointment has been described as "ground-breaking," with his role focusing on reforms, reducing reoffending, and addressing issues like prison overcrowding and serious organised crime.

Sir James Timpson is supporting Labour’s reforms of law and order – but sadly, all our opponents do is criticise from the sidelines and busy themselves with internal conflicts.