On Sunday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Prison Service was under enormous pressure, but added that “even against that backdrop it doesn’t explain or excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business being there”.
Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said an inquiry was necessary in order “to learn lessons”, and suggested the incident was symptomatic of wider problems with the prison system.
He told BBC Breakfast on Sunday: “The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent by the Department for Work and Pensions in two weeks.
“My constant plea is to try to ensure the prison service gets the resources it requires to ensure we are recruiting and retaining people with skills and experience to make sure these problems don’t happen.”
The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, said Kebatu “must now be deported” and also pushed for a national inquiry.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the incident showed that the UK’s “once-trusted institutions”, including the police and prisons, were “disintegrating before our eyes”.