New guidelines on sentencing offenders from ethnic minorities and other backgrounds have been delayed, after a row over claims they would create a “two-tier” justice system.
The delay comes after ministers said they would pass a new law to override sections of the guidelines, which were due to come into force in England and Wales on Tuesday.
Critics said the guidance could result in criminals getting different sentences depending on their ethnicity.
The Sentencing Council defended the guidelines as “necessary and appropriate” but said they would not be introduced until the new law had been passed.
Government sources had said it would be all but impossible to pass such legislation before Parliament breaks for Easter.
In a statement, the Sentencing Council said its chairman, Lord Justice William Davis, met Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday morning.
The council defended the guidelines as “necessary and appropriate”.
But in the meeting with Mahmood, Lord Davis indicated the guidelines would not be brought in while there was a “draft bill due for imminent introduction that would make it unlawful”.
“On that basis, the council, an independent statutory body, has chosen to delay the in force date of the guideline pending such legislation taking effect,” the statement said.
Mahmood said she was “grateful” to the Sentencing Council for delaying the implementation of its new guidelines.
The minister said: “These guidelines create a justice system where outcomes could be influenced by race, culture or religion.
“This differential treatment is unacceptable – equality before the law is the backbone of public confidence in our justice system.
“I will change the law to ensure fairness for all in our courts.”
Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the Sentencing Council had “folded under the pressure” after he had threatened a legal challenge against the guidelines.
The guidelines advise that magistrates and judges get a pre-sentence report – giving further details of an offender’s background – before handing out punishment for someone of an ethnic or faith minority, alongside other groups such as young adults, abuse survivors and pregnant women.
The Sentencing Council, made up of some of the most senior legal figures in England and Wales, said the guidance would address disparities in the punishments meted out by judges.
Official figures show that offenders from ethnic minorities consistently get longer sentences than white offenders for indictable offences.
Earlier on Monday, the prime minister had said he was “very disappointed”, after the Sentencing Council previously refused to reconsider the guidance.
Sir Keir Starmer said the government would bring forward legislation to reverse it.
“There’s no other option, so we will do that. We will fast-track it,” he told GB News.
The Ministry of Justice said the legislation would “clarify that guidance relating to sentencing reports should not single out specific cohorts for differential treatment”.
The Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill will be introduced on Tuesday.
However, it needs to be debated and approved by MPs and peers before it becomes law.
The House of Lords breaks for Easter on Thursday, while MPs break up on 8 April, and Parliament is not due to return until 22 April.
This means there is limited time for the bill to complete its passage.
Some in government believed the law could and should have been rushed through before the Easter break.
Others are understood to have raised concerns that it would be obstructed in the House of Lords, especially by eminent lawyers, if the government were seen to be moving with excessive speed.
Jenrick first raised concerns about the guidelines earlier this month, saying they were biased “against straight white men” and amounted to “two-tier justice”.
In response, Mahmood said she also opposed a “two-tier sentencing approach” and that she “did not stand for any differential treatment before the law”.
The Sentencing Council was established in 2010 to try to ensure consistency in sentencing. Sir Keir, at the time Director of Public Prosecutions, was one of its founding members.
