I am grateful to the Lord Advocate for providing advance sight of her statement.

Today, the public hoped for clarity on what would change in prosecution policy in response to our ballooning prison population. The Lord Advocate seems to want to make it harder to oppose bail and divert more offenders from prosecution in the first place, but there is little clarity. The Lord Advocate said that, although it is not her job to resolve prison pressures, her aim with today’s measures is to do just that. She then said that she cannot say what the effect of those measures will be on prison spaces. What, then, is the evidential foundation for those specific measures being put in place?

Secondly, we have just heard about the Government’s failure to prioritise and notify victims. The Lord Advocate states that it is “unpredictable” whether those who are granted liberty may reoffend. However, given that we know that interventions can be effective, has she worked with the Government on the reforms to ensure that those interventions are in place and are funded, or is she implementing today’s measures in a vacuum?

Finally, the Lord Advocate conceded that she has taken the action that she has taken in response to the full prisons. In other words, she would not have taken it of her own volition, so it is a less preferable course of action. How does that fact square with her statement that there will be no reduction in keeping the public safe?