Criminals released early from prison have not been electronically tagged despite the monitors being a crucial protection for victims.

The early release scheme has prompted widespread fury (Image: Tom Bowles)

Domestic abusers are among those roaming the streets freely after Sir Keir Starmer let out 1,750 offenders to ease overcrowding in prisons.

The Government had stressed thugs convicted for attacking or stalking their partners would be tagged when they were released.

One ex-prisoner warned some louts are disobeying curfew orders because they are not being monitored, adding “it’s a disaster waiting to happen”.

Staff shortages have been blamed for the chaos.

David Shipley, a former prisoner who was tagged, warned the system has collapsed since he left jail.

Writing in The Spectator, he said: “Nowadays, even probation officers struggle to get clear answers about whether or not tags have been fitted.

“Several recently-released prisoners told me that their probation officers had asked them whether they had been fitted with a tag. How are they supposed to keep tabs if they don’t know this basic information?”

One offender released last week told the BBC: “They should have tagged me but they haven’t and it means I can go where I choose.

“I don’t want to end up back inside so I’m sticking to the curfew, but I know people who aren’t doing that because they’ve not been tagged. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

Labour’s “day of shame” saw criminals released from prison early picked up in supercars, spray champagne around and brag about now being “lifelong” voters for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted some of those let out early last Tuesday will end up in taxpayer-funded hotels because they will be homeless.

Convicts punched the air with delight, while others popped champagne and hugged with family and friends as they were released early.

And some have gone on to reoffend, with one – former Hollywood actor Jason Hoganson – arrested on suspicion of breaching a restraining order and assault.

Most have been recalled for breaches of their licence, which places restrictions on where they can go, who they can meet and where they can live, as well as requiring them to attend meetings with their probation officers.

The first to be recalled is believed to have failed to turn up at a pre-arranged address, leading to probation officers alerting police, who found him and took him back into custody within 36 hours.

Prisons and probation minister Lord Timpson is due to have a meeting with security company Serco, which took over the MoJ’s tagging contract in May, on Thursday.

An MoJ spokesman said: “Tagging is an important part of our strategy to keep victims safe and cut reoffending, and there are currently record numbers of offenders wearing tags.

“We are holding Serco to account to address delays in fitting some offenders with tags, and will apply financial penalties against the company if this is not resolved quickly.

“While this issue is ongoing, we have prioritised tagging domestic-abuse offenders to make sure their licence conditions, such as staying away from their victims, are strictly followed.”

A Serco spokesperson said: “Since we took over the electronic monitoring contract in May we have been working hard to reduce the number of people waiting to have a tag fitted.

“We work closely with the MoJ and the probation service to fit tags swiftly and prioritise cases based on risk profiles.

“Where an individual is not at home when we call to fit a tag the time taken can be longer. We prioritise making another visit so that people are tagged as soon as possible.”

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Nigel Farage’s latest plan to be PM by 2030 – after ‘giving up control’ to Reform members

Nigel Farage has dropped a major signal that he’s plotting a major push to become Britain’s next Prime Minister by announcing he will hand over control of Reform UK party to members.

Farage is said to have set his sights on winning the keys to Number 10. (Image: Getty)

In a video on X, the Brexit architect declared: “I’ve now made a decision. I no longer need to control this party. I’m going to let go.”

Reform chairman Zia Yusuf has since confirmed the move, which would see Mr Farage giving up his 40 percent stake in the venture, so that it can become a incorporated as a fully-fledged political party, The Sun reports.

It would also mean members of Reform UK, which unlike most parties is registered as a company, could seek to remove him as leader, indicating his confidence in his support, and the party’s ambitions to take the fight to Labour and the Conservatives.

But Mr Yusuf told The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots politics show that it would come after Mr Farage’s bid to become PM by 2030.

Nigel Farage announced the decision on X today. (Image: Getty)

Mr Yusuf said part of the decision is also to ensure that the party has “succession plans”. When asked about his own political ambitions, the multi-millionaire businessman said: “My plans are to build the most formidable campaign-winning machine in this country and ensure Nigel Farage is elected Prime Minister.

“And I really believe that Nigel Farage could be elected Prime Minister,” he added.

He told BBC News the party’s membership had surged to over than 80,000, as it looks to build campaigning machinery and becoming the official opposition ahead of the next national ballot.

Reform shocked the Westminster establishment by capturing 14 percent of the votes in July’s general election and putting five MPs into Parliament.

Mr Farage said that when he set up Reform UK Limited, his financial ownership “led to much hilarity in the press”, but was necessary for him to “make very fast decisions”.

“Secondly, and most importantly, the real reason was to prevent a small, nascent political party being taken over by malign actors, and that was my really big fear, but we’ve moved on,” the MP for Clacton-on-Sea added.

Former deputy leader of the party Ben Habib claimed in a video X that he had been advocating for the democratisation of the party behind the scenes “for many years”, as he criticised the planned leadership rules.

He insisted he wasn’t “having a go” at Mr Farage, but added that “if a leader is going to act with integrity it’s best he be held to account by the membership of his own party”.

Mr Habib also said the new constitution the party is putting together wouldn’t allow the party members to remove Mr Farage as leader, as has been suggested, only to call a vote of no confidence the company’s board would have the final say.

“This is not democracy. This is not the ability of the membership to remove the leader,” he said. “This is the technical ability of the membership to ask the board to please consider removing the leader.”

“The constitution itself is an awful document and could be picked apart in multiple different ways, but it certainly hasn’t had the finest legal minds in the country working on it day and night,” he added.

“I could have drafted it, I would have done a better job drafting it, and it doesn’t and this is obviously the critical point it doesn’t deliver the ability to remove the leader.”