Police were ‘consulted’ over early prison release scheme, says Ministry of Justice

Mark Rowley, Met commissioner, had said plans for England and Wales were made without any analysis of the impact on policing'

The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has hit back at the UK's most senior police officer in a row over the impact of allowing thousands of criminals to serve their sentences in the community instead of being sent to jail.

The Ministry of Justice insisted on Wednesday that officials consulted with police" including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, over proposed changes to sentencing policies introduced to ease prison overcrowding.