The budget cuts come as the criminal justice system is in crisispublished at 13:34 Greenwich Mean Time October 30

13:34 GMT 30 October

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK Correspondent

Prisons are full and criminal courts face backlogs, meaning defendants, witnesses and victims have to wait years before testifying. The criminal justice system is in crisis.

A 2% cut across all government departments will be unwelcome news for the Ministry of Justice as it faces numerous challenges.

He promised to fix prisons and released thousands of criminals early to ease pressure on the system. But it is also committed to creating more prisons and creating another fourteen thousand new places.

Those who work closely with the department wonder how it can stick to plans — and focus on rehabilitation and sentencing — when it has to make cuts?

As for the courts, attorneys tell us they’re disappointed by what they call a lack of commitment to reducing the tens of thousands of backlog cases, with one saying “we need more funding, not less.”