By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-28 16:20:56 | Updated at 2025-03-31 10:45:40
2 days ago
Barrister and writer Steven Barrett has launched a scathing attack on the Sentencing Council, questioning "who on earth are they" to overrule Parliament's decisions on immigration offences.
Speaking to GB News, Barrett blasted the body as "anti-democratic" over new guidelines that could allow hundreds of illegal immigrants to avoid deportation.
The guidelines, which set sentences below the crucial 12-month threshold for automatic deportation, have sparked controversy.
Barrett told GB News: "What we're seeing now is the apex of these anti-democratic manoeuvres.
"But of course, that's nonsense. Most of us don't know when consultations are happening.
"They're not heavily publicised, and the only people who will engage in consultations will be the people obsessed with increasing migration into this country.
"So I'm sure they'll have a lot of entries and submissions from NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and charities which profit from from more migration into this country, saying 'what a jolly good idea it would be to reduce sentencing'.
"But the fundamental core of this isn't about whether that's right or wrong, because I want listeners who who fully support migration to know how how wrong this is.
"I want them to feel it in their bones. This is not democratic. They're not accountable to anybody.
"Who on earth are they? Who on earth are they to think that they can overrule Parliament?
"A faceless group of nonentities that none of us have heard of. None of us know them and none of us can hold to account. Get rid of them."
Migrants crossing the Channel
PA
Under the new guidelines set out by the Sentencing Council, immigrants who commit offences such as knowingly entering without leave, deception, and possession of false identity documents would receive sentences falling short of the automatic deportation threshold.
Research by the Shadow Justice Secretary showed 120 criminals were sentenced for such offences between June and December 2022.
The Council's "starting points" for sentences falls below the 12-month prison threshold that triggers automatic deportation proceedings.
"Shabana Mahmood's personal representative was present at all meetings and no objections are minuted," a Conservative spokesman said.
