Sir Keir Starmer said he was “angry” to see prisoners released early from jail celebrating their freedom.

The Prime Minister told how he “didn’t want to take” the drastic measure of letting thugs out sooner than their sentences required.

Sir Keir Starmer said he was ‘angry’ over early release of prisoners (Image: Getty)

About 1,750 prisoners were freed early on Tuesday from jails across England and Wales.

Pictures emerged of an inmate being sprayed with bubbly by friends at the prison gates as they were released while ministers faced accusations that serious career criminals were among those walking free when the policy was launched.

When asked how he felt when he saw people popping champagne corks outside Wandsworth prison last week, Sir Keir said: “Angry. I spent five years prosecuting and putting people in prison and being forced to release people who should be in prison makes me angry.

“But the choice was pretty simple. We’d got to the point where prisons were so full we had the choice between releasing people in the way that we’ve done it, or not being able to arrest people and put them in prison.

“You can imagine the impact on law and order in this country if we’d reached a place where police could not make the necessary arrests day by day, and you’d be having some pretty hard questions for me if we’d got to that stage.

“Which is why Rishi Sunak was advised that we had to do the scheme that we did. He was advised he had to do it by Alex Chalk, who said if you don’t do this, we’ll have to kneel down and pray.

“He was advised to do this by the police chiefs, who said if you don’t do the scheme which we’ve now done, you’re going to make the situation far worse, you cannot delay until after the election.

“He delayed until after the election and made the situation worse. So, angry is what I feel, as I did when I was in Cobra, literally having to plot how many prison places we had, in order to assess whether we could contain the disorder.”

One man freed from prison under the Government’s early release scheme is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman on the same day he was released.

It is understood the man was released as part of the policy, which aims to ease prison overcrowding, on its first day on Tuesday.

He is alleged to have reoffended in Sittingbourne, Kent, on “the same day released”, according to court documents seen by the PA news agency.

He was later arrested at an address in south London.

He appeared at a magistrates’ court on Thursday charged with sexual assault, and is due to appear at the crown court next month.

The man has been recalled to prison.

Sir Keir said: “No prime minister should be in that position. What we’ve got to do about it now, we’ve obviously got to take this measure which I didn’t want to take, we are going to change the planning laws to make sure where we need prisons we can get them built much more quickly.

“We’ve already fast-tracked or tried to move forward some of the projects in play, but we’re doing everything we can to try to make sure we’ve got the capacity, but to be put into a position where it’s a choice because prisons are so overcrowded that it’s a release scheme the likes of which we had to go down, or a point where the police say we cannot carry out our basic functions, is not a position I should have been put in.”

Criminals serving prison sentences of less than four years for violent offences, including manslaughter, are among those eligible to be freed under the scheme.

Despite government efforts to prevent domestic abusers from leaving prison early, the restrictions will not apply to all criminals with a history of such violence, as the policy only excludes particular offences such as stalking.

Attackers convicted of other crimes such as threats to kill or actual bodily harm could still qualify for early release.

Rioters involved in this summer’s unrest are also not specifically excluded from early release. They will only stay behind bars for longer if they are serving more than four years for a violent offence.

Terrorists and sex offenders are excluded and will not be freed early.