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I expect more problems, says Reid Defiant Reid says 'I won't quit'
(about 2 hours later)
Home Secretary John Reid has said he "expects more problems" while reforming his department, but is by no means "beleaguered" by them. Home Secretary John Reid has said he is "not going to quit"- but expects to find more problems at the Home Office.
Writing in the Guardian, Mr Reid said "being home secretary is my biggest challenge" and he would not resign. Reforming the department would take two and a half years, he told the BBC, adding that he had the "endurance" and "determination" to "see it through".
"If you renovate a house you start by taking the wallpaper off, it is then you discover more problems," he said. He said the public were not interested in ministers being changed - they wanted the Home Office to be changed.
And Mr Reid said he should be judged not on the challenges he faced, but by his response to them. "The fact is I'm in there changing things and I will continue to change them," Mr Reid told Radio 4's Today.
On Sunday, the prime minister defended the running of the department and the government's record on prisons in an interview for BBC One's The Politics Show. "There's one thing that's certain, I'm not going to quit," he added.
On the programme, Tony Blair conceded prisons were "full to bursting point" before pointing out that 20,000 new prison places had been created and there would be a further 8,000 added to that total soon.
The prime minister added that prison overcrowding was partly due to people being in jail for longer.
I was sent to the Home Office to do a job... but it isn't mission impossible Home Secretary John ReidI was sent to the Home Office to do a job... but it isn't mission impossible Home Secretary John Reid
In his Guardian article, the home secretary admitted his department would continue to be undermined by new crises and embarrassments. Mr Reid's comments about the job taking two and a half years suggests he expects to remain in his post as home secretary, rather than challenge Gordon Brown to succeed Tony Blair when he steps down this year.
"No one need tell me that there are problems in the Home Office. I know. That's why I said parts of the Home Office were 'not fit for purpose,'" he wrote. Asked about that, he said he was working "very closely" with Mr Brown and "as late as last night I was discussing these matters with Gordon".
"I was sent to the Home Office to do a job.... but it isn't a mission impossible. Asked directly if that meant he was not going to contest the leadership, he said: "I am going to be home secretary."
"Judge me not on the challenges, but on my response to them." More places
Mr Reid said he had "inherited" many problems, such as foreign national prisoners and overseas criminal convictions. Last week, Mr Reid was at the centre of a row over sentencing after reminding judges about "existing guidelines" on sentencing, as it emerged that the UK's prisons were, in Tony Blair's words, "full to bursting point".
It prompted two Crown Court judges to decide against jailing sex offenders, blaming prison overcrowding.
LATEST HOME OFFICE PRESSURES 27 January...The News of the World claims 322 convicted sex offenders are missing across the UK26 January....Home Secretary John Reid denies telling judges to give softer sentences to ease prison overcrowding26 January....England and Wales Youth Justice Board head Rod Morgan quits over youth prisons' overcrowding25 January....Risk of being a victim of crime in England and Wales rises for the first time since 1995, figures suggest21 January....Proposals reveal the Home Office may be split in two to cover justice and security14 January Senior civil servant suspended over failure to update police records of Britons convicted abroadLATEST HOME OFFICE PRESSURES 27 January...The News of the World claims 322 convicted sex offenders are missing across the UK26 January....Home Secretary John Reid denies telling judges to give softer sentences to ease prison overcrowding26 January....England and Wales Youth Justice Board head Rod Morgan quits over youth prisons' overcrowding25 January....Risk of being a victim of crime in England and Wales rises for the first time since 1995, figures suggest21 January....Proposals reveal the Home Office may be split in two to cover justice and security14 January Senior civil servant suspended over failure to update police records of Britons convicted abroad
"There will also problems I haven't discovered yet - and may well be unearthed by others," Mr Reid added. Mr Reid said that, under Labour, more serious criminals were being jailed for longer, or given indeterminate sentences.
He said 20,000 new prison places had been created since Labour came to power and said he had commissioned another 8,000 since taking up his job last May.
But sentencing guidelines had assumed a 15% reduction in trivial offenders being sent to prison as people did not want "to have to pay £40,000 a year to keep them in bed and breakfast", he said.
This had not happened, so he had made a statement to the National Criminal Justice Board, to remind them of guidelines - something which had been backed by the Lord Chief Justice.
"We do not have a Soviet-style judiciary so forecasting how independent judges will make decisions is not an exact science so we have to keep reviewing it as we go along," he added
He said when he started reforming the Home Office - from probation, policing and prisons to sex offenders - other problems had come up.
"Partly they are genuine problems I have to say and partly they are media commentators who don't have to change anything, they just have to constantly comment on it," he said.
Meanwhile there is a dispute with prison officers over the plan to transfer staff to a new temporary jail due to open in Merseyside.
Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA), told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that an extra 1,000 prison officers were needed.Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA), told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that an extra 1,000 prison officers were needed.
And he called on Mr Reid to meet the association, which Mr Caton said he has not done since taking over the Home Office last year.
Mr Caton said that Mr Reid and his predecessor knew about plans to open a new, temporary prison at least 12-18 months ago and had done nothing to ensure it was fully staffed.Mr Caton said that Mr Reid and his predecessor knew about plans to open a new, temporary prison at least 12-18 months ago and had done nothing to ensure it was fully staffed.
"They have done nothing to recruit staff to staff it, and now what they intend to do is pull staff away from existing prisons which are short of staff anyway....that is just unacceptable to the POA.""They have done nothing to recruit staff to staff it, and now what they intend to do is pull staff away from existing prisons which are short of staff anyway....that is just unacceptable to the POA."
He added: "(Mr Reid) has gone now the longest of any home secretary since 1939 without speaking to the POA. What we want to tell him today is `John, come and speak to us'."
Softer sentences
Last week, Mr Reid found himself at the centre of a row over sentencing after he wrote a letter reminding judges about "existing guidelines" on sentencing in relation to the current overcrowding problem in prisons.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips - the most senior judge in England and Wales - backed him saying he "was not instructing judges to stop imposing prison terms".
The advice to judges and magistrates in England and Wales was given jointly by Mr Reid, the lord chancellor and the attorney general.
But it prompted two Crown Court judges to release sex offenders, blaming prison overcrowding.
But some judges said they would ignore the guidance when handing down sentences.
Retired judge, Keith Matthewman, told BBC News he had never been asked to consider the prison situation when sentencing offenders.
Mr Reid denied that he told judges to give criminals softer sentences to ease prison overcrowding, insisting serious offenders should still be locked up.