Alex Chalk said criminal justice reforms due to be set out at the King’s Speech this morning are about “head as well as heart”.

Law and order changes are expected to be the centrepiece of today’s King’s Speech as the State Opening of Parliament takes place. 

King Charles III is due to set out Rishi Sunak’s legislative plans for the new parliamentary session in an address to the House of Lords at 11.25am. It will be his first address as monarch.

On the expected changes to the criminal justice system, the Justice Secretary told Times Radio: “This is about head as well as it is about heart. This is about ensuring that, I don’t want you, I don’t want your family, I don’t want my family, to be victims of crime.

“So what I want to ensure is that people who are the greatest threat to you and your family are kept out of circulation for longer… but those who are capable of being rehabilitated should be rehabilitated. And that seems to me to be smart.”

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