On October 6, 2025, the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester took a dramatic turn as shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick unveiled a sweeping pledge: if the Conservatives win the next general election, they will abolish the Sentencing Council and hand ministers the authority to set sentencing guidelines for courts in England and Wales. The announcement, delivered with characteristic fervor, has ignited a fierce debate over the future of judicial independence, the fairness of the justice system, and the direction of Conservative policy under leader Kemi Badenoch.
Standing before party faithful on the third day of the conference, Jenrick left little room for ambiguity. “The Sentencing Council is not fit for purpose,” he declared, according to BBC. “Never again can the British people face the prospect of two-tier justice.” He argued that the current system has resulted in what he calls a “two-tier nightmare,” where people are treated unequally by the courts—a theme he hammered home repeatedly throughout his speech and in media appearances.
Jenrick’s criticism stems from a series of controversies earlier in 2025, when the Sentencing Council, the non-departmental public body responsible for setting sentencing guidelines, found itself embroiled in a row with the government. The Council had issued guidance recommending that judges consider factors such as ethnicity or gender when deciding whether to request a pre-sentence report. This move, Jenrick and his allies contended, risked allowing offenders from certain minority groups to receive more lenient treatment—an accusation that stoked public and political outcry. The proposal was ultimately withdrawn, but the episode left a deep mark on the Conservative approach to sentencing policy.
In response to the controversy, the Labour government at the time blocked the updated guidance and initiated a review of the Sentencing Council’s role. By September 2025, ministers had announced plans to change the law, requiring that any new guidance issued by the Council receive the explicit approval of the justice secretary. The Sentencing Bill, now winding its way through Parliament, would give the justice secretary a formal veto over all new sentencing guidance—a move Jenrick regards as only a first step. “We are slipping into a two-tier nightmare under Keir Starmer,” he said, referencing the Labour leader. “All too frequently the law is not applied equally. No more—every single person in this country must be treated exactly the same, regardless of their background.”
But the Conservatives’ plans go further than simply tightening ministerial oversight. Jenrick is adamant that the Sentencing Council itself should be scrapped outright, with ministers assuming direct responsibility for issuing sentencing guidelines. According to GB News, Jenrick described the current situation as a “two-tier nightmare” and promised to introduce new legislation to empower the justice secretary. He accused the Council of “watering down” sentences by recommending jail terms that fall short of the statutory maximum, a charge he repeated during his conference speech and in interviews.
Labour, for its part, has wasted no time in pushing back. A spokesperson for the party accused the Conservatives of “yet more rank hypocrisy,” pointing out that the Tories had backed the proposed changes to pre-sentencing reports when they were first announced and had done nothing to stop them while in government. “Labour took action the moment we uncovered their mistake,” the spokesperson said, as quoted by ITV News. “This is just another cynical gimmick from Jenrick, a man who constantly undermines the independence of the judiciary just to further his own career.” The opposition’s critique has found an audience among those worried that the Conservative plan would erode the traditional separation between the judiciary and the executive, undermining judicial independence in the process.
The debate is not just about political point-scoring, however. Academic evidence, as cited by NationalWorld and BBC, suggests there is indeed some disparity in sentencing outcomes: offenders from ethnic minorities are statistically more likely than white offenders to be imprisoned for certain offenses, even when controlling for legal factors like guilty pleas or prior convictions. The question of how best to address these disparities—through judicial discretion, statutory guidelines, or ministerial intervention—remains hotly contested.
Jenrick’s speech was not limited to the Sentencing Council. He also pledged to crack down on what he described as “pro-migration bias” in the judiciary, vowing to remove lawyers involved in political activism, such as campaigning for open borders. According to The Telegraph, he has compiled a list of judges who have volunteered for or provided free legal services to organizations advocating open borders, arguing that “a deep rot has infected parts of our judiciary.” Jenrick’s tough-on-crime message extended to so-called low-level offenses as well. “I believe in the broken window theory of policing—if you allow so-called low-level crime it will only spiral,” he told the Daily Express. He called for police to use facial recognition technology to build prosecutions against repeat offenders, with all CCTV images run through the Police National Computer database.
The broader Conservative agenda, as outlined at the conference, includes plans to slash £47 billion from public spending, create a removals force modeled on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, and expand the use of facial recognition technology to catch and prosecute more thieves. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express, “We need a zero-tolerance crackdown where shoplifters are actually caught and sent to prison. Ramping up facial recognition technology can do this.”
All of this unfolds against a backdrop of political turbulence for the Conservatives. Polls show the party trailing Labour, and questions swirl around Kemi Badenoch’s leadership. According to NationalWorld, half of Tory members doubt Badenoch’s suitability to lead the party into the next election, though many believe she is doing a good job. Jenrick, a former leadership contender himself and recently a boxing enthusiast, has insisted he is fully behind Badenoch. “There isn’t a vacancy and I don’t expect there will be. My expectation is that Kemi will lead this party into the next general election,” he said at a fringe event, as reported by ITV News and BBC.
As the conference closed, the party’s path forward seemed clear but contentious. Jenrick’s vow to abolish the Sentencing Council has set the stage for a high-stakes battle over the future of sentencing in England and Wales—a battle that will test the boundaries between politics and the courts, and between competing visions of justice and equality. For now, the debate remains as fierce as ever, with both sides convinced they have the public’s best interests at heart.
