Other parties have come up with their own ideas for dealing with overcrowding in prisons.<\/p>\n
At a news conference on Monday, Reform UK suggested 10,000 prison spaces could be freed up if all foreign criminals were sent abroad to serve their sentences.<\/p>\n
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party was exploring options to transfer foreign criminals in the UK to prisons in other countries, including El Salvador and Kosovo.<\/p>\n
When asked if he had other countries in mind, Farage said: “Yes there are Baltic state options as well.<\/p>\n
“I mean, conversations could certainly be had with Lithuania, for example, or perhaps Estonia as well.”<\/p>\n
A Reform UK spokesman said its policy was focused on El Salvador, Kosovo and “possibly others if they are open to the idea”.<\/p>\n
In recent days, the Conservatives have also urged Burnham to revive their plan to rent prison cells overseas, a policy they introduced when the party was in government in 2023.<\/p>\n
The proposal aimed to mirror models used by Norway and Belgium in the Netherlands, where both countries rented cells to deal with overcrowding in their prisons.<\/p>\n
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said this was “an idea that we legislated for in government but Labour subsequently did not pursue that”.<\/p>\n
“That was a catastrophic mistake by the Labour government that should be urgently reversed.”<\/p>\n
The Conservatives did not respond to requests to comment on Estonia’s rejection of a prison rental deal with the UK.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice said: “There have been no discussions or consultations regarding the possibility of accepting the transfer of all Lithuanian citizens imprisoned in the United Kingdom”.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the Lithuanian government did not “see any scope for entering into practical arrangements of this kind”.<\/p>\n
The Kosovo government, which has agreed to lease 300 of its jail cells to Denmark as part of a deal worth \u00a3170m (\u20ac200m), appeared more open to working with other countries on prisoner transfers.<\/p>\n
A Kosovo government spokesperson said: “We value the willingness of partner countries to initiate and advance new co-operation initiatives that serve common interests, mutual priorities, and the strengthening of international justice mechanisms”.<\/p>\n
But the spokesperson stressed Kosovo would focus on enacting its deal with Denmark “before entering into any new agreement of a similar nature”.<\/p>\n