Andy Burnham MUST do urgent U-turn on plan to set free PC Andrew Harper’s killers

No free pass ANDY Burnham’s handling of Labour’s disastrous early release scheme is his first major mistake since entering No10. The PM waded in to pause the prison plan amid outrage at the decision to set free two killers of PC Andrew Harper. Andy Burnham’s handling of Labour’s disastrous early release scheme is his first major mistake since entering No10 Credit: Reuters The PM waded in to pause the prison plan amid outrage at the decision to set free two killers of PC Andrew Harper Credit: PA By personally intervening, Burnham understandably raised hopes that he was about to block the sickening release of Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole. Yet he has now determined this pair of thugs — along with other lags convicted of manslaughter — WILL still be among 5,000 to have their sentences cut. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! That is a dreadful blow to PC Harper’s family after years of unimaginable grief. It is also a massive kick in the teeth for hero cops across the country facing deadly threats while doing daily battle with criminal gangs. Burnham says he wishes he could have done more. Why didn’t he? He’s our all powerful, if unelected, new PM. How many extra jail spaces would it require to exclude inmates convicted of manslaughter from early release, along with the rapists and groomers he did decide to keep behind bars? The necessary space could be found by filling a few planes with the 10,000 or so foreign prisoners in our jails, including about 1,100 Albanian criminals who could be deported under the returns scheme negotiated by the Tories. Most read in The Sun Hand-wringing and platitudes from Burnham won’t help PC Harper’s family or other cops in danger. Only doing an urgent U-turn will. Oh, leave off IN the real world, NO ONE would dream of taking a holiday just two weeks after starting a big new job. But, after spending a year plotting to get into No10, Andy Burnham feels now is the right time for a few days off. Forget the fact that crucial decisions need to be made ahead of another make-or-break Budget for the country. Never mind the small boats crisis and death-trap mega dinghies catching fire in the Channel. Convicted fraudster and de facto Deputy PM Lou Haigh will be on hand to mind the Downing Street shop. Let’s hope she keeps her phone close by. DC comical MAKING Ed Miliband Foreign Secretary may have shifted His Greenness away from Net Zero matters where he has wreaked so much damage. But Andy Burnham has now put the Government on a collision course with Donald Trump. Miliband arrives in Washington DC for talks with counterpart Marco Rubio having previously called the US President a “racist”. More seriously, Trump is right when says only “loser” countries have fanatically chased green renewables at the expense of their own industries. That’s the unwanted legacy of a man now trusted by Burnham to maintain relations with our closest ally. Comment now