The government has activated emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding as more rioters are being sentenced.

Across the north of England defendants waiting for a court appearance will be kept in police cells until prison space is available.

The system, known as Operation Early Dawn, was activated this morning. It was previously used to ease overcrowding in prisons by the Conservative government in May.

The government said that its action to “tackle violent thuggery on our streets” has “exacerbated longstanding capacity issues in our prisons”.

Lord Timpson, the prisons minister, said: “We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.”

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