People could die as a result of Sir Keir Starmer's decision to release prisoners early to prevent overcrowding, Tory leadership front runner Robert Jenrick has told Chopper's Political Podcast.
Jenrick also claimed net migration needs to come down to just thousands and argued he could kill off the threat from Reform UK as Tory Party leader.
The former Immigration Minister is the current front runner among MPs in the four-way race to replace outgoing leader Rishi Sunak.
Jenrick's intervention came after Labour's prison plans resulted in the release of 1,750 convicts who only served a minimum of 40 per cent of their terms behind bars.
Robert Jenrick with early prisoner insets
PA
Asked on Chopper's Political Podcast about the early release of prisoners, Jenrick said: "We should be locking up more hyper prolific offenders to get dangerous people off our streets. What Keir Starmer is doing is very dangerous.
"Thugs and criminals are now being let out onto our streets and I predict that people could die as a result of these decisions.
"I don't pretend these are easy decisions to make but I do not see evidence that Keir Starmer is straining every sinew to prevent this."
Jenrick, who resigned from Sunak's Government over a disagreement about the Rwanda plan to tackle illegal migration, also said he wanted MPs to set an annual migration cap.
He revealed that as Prime Minister he would want to "go significantly further" than the pledge by David Cameron's Government in 2010 to cut net migration to tens of thousands annually.
Jenrick claimed: "The problem with the commitment that we had in the Coalition Government was that it was never met. Ministers like Theresa May at the Home Office tried very hard to do so.
"What I have argued for with fellow MP Neil O'Brien is that we have a legally binding cap set by Parliament. What I'm saying is Parliament should set that number.
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Prison officerPA"I think it should be in the tens of thousands or lower. That would give the public, finally, the confidence that we mean what we say."
The Tories fought July's general election on a pledge to set an annual cap on legal migration without ever saying what it was.
Jenrick added: "You have to give it careful thought. We've obviously lived through a 25 year period of mass migration.
"I accept that what I'm arguing for will not be plain sailing. It requires a big change in our economy, in our public services."
Jenrick said the last Tory Government's failure to cut migration after the Brexit vote gave ministers control of British border was "almost like sticking two fingers up to the British public".
He added: "We said we were going to control and reduce immigration. We said we were going to secure our borders in manifesto after manifesto, we put it as the slogan in one of the slogans in the Brexit referendum.
"We put it on a podium. We said we were going to stop the boats and we did precisely the opposite. As you know, I fought relentlessly as a minister to improve and reform my immigration system."
Christopher Hope and Robert Jenrick
GB NEWS
Jenrick also argued that the Tories under his leadership could kill off the threat from Reform UK by adopting more Conservative policies.
He said: "My view of Reform is that it is a symptom, not a cause. It exists in its current form because the Conservative Party failed.
"We made promises. We didn't keep them. What I want to do is to put Nigel Farage out of business to make him redundant by bringing home Reform voters to the Conservative Party, by making my party once again the natural home for 'small c conservatives', because we would once again be the party of secure borders, controlled immigration, small business, entrepreneurship, strong defences, the family, the things that drove me into politics. I believe we can do that.
"I think I'm the right candidate to do that, because the arguments I've been making for a long time, the decision to resign on principle, I have some credibility on this issue, and the public know that I'm determined to address this."
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