One of the sources used by the Council to draw up the changes was the 2017 review of the justice system written by the Foreign Secretary (pictured today in Japan) when he was a backbench Labour MP.

The Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood (pictured), has threatened to overrule the Sentencing Council by changing the law as she called for new guidance to be reconsidered

Poised to come into force from April, the fresh guidelines state a pre-sentence report would usually be necessary for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority

‘It is the role of the Probation Service to provide judges with pre-sentence reports (PSRs), which set out greater information about the character and circumstances of an offender,’ he wrote.

‘These reports assist the court in determining the most suitable method of dealing with an offender – and may be particularly important for shedding light on individuals from backgrounds unfamiliar to the judge.

‘This is vital considering the gap between the difference in backgrounds – both in social class and ethnicity – between the magistrates, judges and many of those offenders who come before them.’

Mrs Mahmood has threatened to overrule the Sentencing Council by changing the law as she called for new guidance for judges to consider a criminal’s ethnicity before deciding their punishment to be reconsidered ‘as soon as possible’.

In a letter to the independent body, the Lord Chancellor said she ‘must make clear my displeasure’ at the changes, adding: ‘I do not stand for differential treatment before the law like this.’

But Ms Mahmood wrote: ‘A pre-sentence report can be instrumental in assisting courts in the determination of their sentence.

‘But the access to one should not be determined by an offender’s ethnicity, culture or religion.’

She requested an urgent meeting in her letter to the chairman of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, Lord Justice William Davis, adding that ‘no minister’ in this Government approved of the guidance or was involved in the consultation.

Ms Mahmood also said she was considering whether policy decisions such as this should be made by the Sentencing Council and what role MPs should play.

‘For that reason, I will be reviewing the role and powers of the Sentencing Council alongside the work of the Independent Sentencing Review,’ she said.

‘If necessary, I will legislate in the Sentencing Bill that will follow that review.’

It comes as shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said he will legally challenge the guidance on the grounds it enshrines ‘anti-white’ and ‘anti-Christian’ bias in the criminal justice system and that it amounted to ‘two-tier justice’.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick (pictured) said he will legally challenge the guidance on the grounds it enshrines ‘anti-white’ and ‘anti-Christian’ bias in the criminal justice system and that it amounted to ‘two-tier justice’.

Mr Jenrick told the BBC Today programme that the changes are ‘dangerous’.

He added: ‘If you’re asking me, should we try to use things like pre-sentencing reports to socially engineer our criminal justice system so there is equality of outcome rather than equality of treatment? No, I think that’s wrong. And I think that’s a dangerous approach.’

Asked whether he supported Ms Mahmood’s calls for the guidance to be reversed over concerns of ‘two-tier sentencing’, Mr Jenrick said: ‘Absolutely, I think, frankly, she should have done that previously.

‘When I raised this in the House of Commons yesterday, the Justice Secretary, who is responsible for this system, did not appear to know anything about it. I watched her look to her ministerial team, blank looks followed.’

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch had earlier called for Ms Mahmood to change the law and said the Conservatives ‘will back her’.

‘If the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, doesn’t want a two-tier criminal justice system she should change the law and the Conservatives will back her. Ministers should decide, not quangos. Labour need to grip this,’ she said.

The previous government was also consulted on the change during the consultation period between November 2023 to February 2024.

Defending the guidance on Wednesday, Lord Justice Davis said: ‘The reasons for including groups vary but include evidence of disparities in sentencing outcomes, disadvantages faced within the criminal justice system and complexities in circumstances of individual offenders that can only be understood through an assessment.

‘Pre-sentence reports provide the court with information about the offender; they are not an indication of sentence.’

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch (pictured) had earlier called for Ms Mahmood to change the law and said the Conservatives ‘will back her’

The guidelines also state pre-sentence reports can still be necessary if an offender does not fall into one of the groups.

Meanwhile, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust charity, Mark Day, described the calls as a ‘storm in a teacup’.

‘A pre-sentence report (PSR) is simply a way of getting detailed information about an individual’s personal circumstances and background so that the court is informed and able to pass the most effective sentence possible,’ he said.

A Prison Reform Trust briefing published in February this year cited a 2016 study that found people from an ethnic minority group face ‘disproportionately higher odds’ of receiving custodial sentences for indictable offences at the crown court.

It also highlighted Ministry of Justice data from 2022 that showed defendants from an ethnic minority were more likely to be remanded in custody than white defendants, and black people spent the highest proportion of their sentence in prison compared to other ethnic groups.

The MailOnline has approached David Lammy for comment.