Andy Burnham says he’s ‘increasingly confident’ early release of PC Harper killers can be prevented - UK politics live

The prime minister says other work to reduce prisoner numbers could allow for more space for serious offendersAndy Burnham did not want to be talking about prisons today. As Aletha Adu and Alexandra Topping report, the PM wants to highlight new powers to stop betting and vape shops taking over their high streets.As with some of Burnham’s other early announcements, today’s initiative is an extension of one already in the pipeline. Here is the news release from last year when Keir Starmer’s government announced councils getting powers to “block gambling and vape shops on their high street”.Everyone can see what has happened to our high streets, with once-treasured shops being replaced by a smattering of rogue operators, many of which have links to organised crime and fraud.Labour’s business rates hikes have hollowed out our high streets, driving out the shops people want and leaving empty units for whoever is left standing to fill. Conservatives would cut business rates for high street firms and back the small businesses that give a town centre its character.Unless he beefs up powers to properly crack down on cowboy vape shops and dodgy operators, Burnham’s plan could go up in a puff of smoke.Our high streets are in crisis, so rolling the dice and keeping his fingers crossed these minor changes are enough simply won’t win the hand. He should scrap the failed business rates system and urgently give sweeping new powers to councils so high streets can prosper and trading standards officers can permanently shut repeat offenders.Until this government scraps the jobs tax, addresses sky-high business rates and provides real, fundamental support for high street businesses, this policy will only create even more empty shops on our high streets.Preventing businesses from opening only works if the government and local councils make it attractive for the right kind of shops to open in their place. Labour is doing the opposite by making life harder for small, legitimate businesses to operate on our high streets. Continue reading...