The riots, Whitehall and universality

Away from the excitement of Libya and Colonel Gaddafi’s singular definition of ‘tactical retreat’, the post-riots debate continues. The government has announced that unemployed offenders will have to work a minimum 28 hours in their communities for four days per week and spend a fifth day looking for a job. This is part of the plan to bolster the Community Payback Scheme, signalled by Nick Clegg last week. Crispin Blunt, the prisons minister, has described the riots as a “one-off” and said it was vital that community sentences were sufficiently firm and constructive to “break the cycle of crime and encourage a law-abiding life.” Tim Montgomerie argues that the Tories are trying to reassert their credentials on law and order. Community sentences needed to be stiffened in order to placate public disquiet over relaxed sentences, but today’s moves also suggest that the government is unlikely to alter the criminal justice reforms fundamentally.