BRITAIN’S criminal justice system is at breaking point — just read a raft of government inspectorate reports and those of the respected Institute for Government.

Court backlogs that haven’t reduced since Covid; an ailing and failing prison service with record rates of recidivism, suicides and self-harm; a probation service brought to its knees through a botched part-privatisation, and policing, where the Met was found to be institutionally racist, misogynistic, homophobic and having a culture that protected serial abusers.

The Labour government inherited a chronic prison capacity crisis and had to enact emergency early release schemes for thousands of prisoners to avoid running out of prison spaces.

Unbelievably, the government has appointed former Tory justice secretary David Gauke, from the party responsible for the problem, to chair an independent sentencing review to provide long-term solutions.

Beyond the legacy of 15 years of Tory failure is a philosophy that lies at the heart of a generally diminished Britain — that the criminal justice system can be a solution to society’s social problems.

This is part of a general poisonous narrative that seeks to blame society’s problems on the “other,” whether it’s disability or sickness benefit recipients, migrants or an army of felons.

Britain’s justice system should be rebranded Britain’s injustice system.

Injustice is now hardwired into the system, with the state fully resisting any attempts at reform or acknowledging abuses. From the high-profile campaigns of Hillsborough, Grenfell and the Post Office Horizon scandal to joint enterprise, IPP (indeterminate public protection) sentences, deaths in state custody, the list goes on and on.

Britain has one of the most draconian criminal records checking systems in the world. Children have police cautions for minor offences on their records for life, which have debarred many from entry into professions, especially for those wanting to work with children or vulnerable adults.

In Britain, one in four adults has a criminal record. The stigma and the discrimination faced by people with criminal records should be a source of national shame. It’s part of a narrative stirred by politicians and the media to vilify people rather than supporting them to turn their lives around.

To highlight just one incident during the period of the current government that exemplifies the immorality of both our justice system and our politics. On November 24 last year, the then-transport secretary Louise Haigh MP was forced to resign after the press got details of a conviction that had legally been spent and should not have barred her from office.

We need a criminal records checking system that, of course, protects the public but is also proportionate and fair for people who have committed a crime in the past, pose no threat to society and now want to move their lives forward.

Starmer could have taken a principled stand and stood by Haigh. Instead, he chose not to and sent a negative message to all people with criminal records who try to lead their lives on the right side of the law and contribute to British society.

Whatever the outcome of the sentencing review and Labour’s attempts to rectify our broken justice system, the left and progressives need to develop an alternative and place it at the heart of an agenda for a better, fairer Britain, not least for the one in four of our fellow citizens with a criminal record.

Councillor Mark Blake is a member of the Independent Socialist Group on Haringey Council and works for a criminal justice NGO.