Budget cuts come as the criminal justice system is in crisisPublished October 30 at 13:34 Greenwich Mean Time

30 October 13:34 GMT

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

Prisons are full and criminal courts are facing a backlog; This means defendants, witnesses and victims have to wait up to several years before testifying. The criminal justice system is in crisis.

A 2 percent cut across all government departments would be unwelcome news for the Justice Department, which faces numerous challenges.

He promised to regulate prisons and released thousands of criminals early to ease pressure on the system. But he is also determined to create more prisons and an additional fourteen thousand places.

Those who work closely with the department question how to stick to plans and focus on rehabilitation and punishment when forced to make cuts.

As for the courts, lawyers tell us they are frustrated by what they call a lack of commitment to cutting the backlog of tens of thousands of cases; “What we need is more funding, not less,” says one of them.