Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has launched a scathing attack on Shabana Mahmood, accusing her of being "humiliated" by the Sentencing Council after it rejected calls to change controversial sentencing guidelines.
The comments come as the Sentencing Council has rejected calls from the justice secretary to change guidance that recommends judges consider a criminal's ethnicity before deciding their punishment.
Mahmood had expressed "displeasure" at the body's recommendations, arguing against "differential treatment before the law".
Despite her objections, the independent body defended its position on Friday, meaning the guidelines will come into force as planned next week.
Robert Jenrick blasted the Justice Secretary
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Robert Jenrick told GB News: "Look, the Justice Secretary promised that there would not be two-tier justice on her watch. She lied.
"In just three days time, we will live in a country where your path through the justice system will be partly dictated by the colour of your skin or the faith that you abide by.
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"We will have two-tier justice under two-tier Keir. I brought forward a bill and gave the Justice Secretary a way out. She refused to take it.
"I said, use your powers of appointment to sack the members of the Sentencing Council who have imposed this upon us all. She didn't do it. She sat on her hands.
"Keir Starmer has done nothing to resolve this issue. It's shameful and we are going to find ourselves on the 1st of April, April Fools Day. Living in a country with two-tier justice under two-tier Keir."
He added: "The justice Secretary has been totally asleep at the wheel.
"She didn't even know about these sentencing guidelines until I raised them with her in the House of Commons. She then held a meeting and a week later wrote a letter to the Sentencing Council.
"They've come back now and totally rebuffed her. She's been humiliated. She hasn't brought forward emergency legislation. She rebuffed my bill. That would have fixed this.
"The best time to have done emergency legislation would have been when these two-tier guidelines were first approved. The second best time is to do it now. So unless she brings forward emergency legislation on Monday, and of course we would back her. If she did, then she will have totally failed.
"And by her own admission, she will be presiding over two-tier justice in our country."
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has previously insisted: "There will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch."
PAMahmood had previously insisted: "There will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch."
In setting out the changes, Sentencing Council chair Lord Justice William Davis defended the guidelines in his letter to Ms Mahmood.
He said that while it wasn't the judiciary's role to introduce policies to "redress the imbalance", judges "must to do all that they can to avoid a difference in outcome based on ethnicity".
Lord Justice Davis pushed back against suggestions the reports would lead to more lenient sentences.
"The crucial point is that a pre-sentence report will provide information to the judge or magistrate. It will not determine the sentence," he wrote.
