The lord chancellor said yesterday that the record jail population of 72,522 in England and Wales is "insupportable".

Lord Irvine, the government's most senior law officer, told the BBC that he believed that most people understand that community sentences work more effectively than prison terms in rehabilitating inmates.

The "vital issue", according to Irvine, is whether the public is best protected by a "vigorous programme of community service" rather than "ever increasing" and expensive jail sentences.

The Sun devotes two pages and its editorial to Lord Irvine, slamming both his stance on burglary and his lifestyle.