The justice secretary will be able to veto any new changes to sentencing guidelines proposed by an independent public body, the justice department has said.
Shabana Mahmood said the change will “right the democratic deficit that has been uncovered” by ensuring the Sentencing Council can no longer issue new guidelines without her approval.
The changes will be brought in as part of the Sentencing Bill, being introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
It comes after both government and opposition ministers criticised the council’s plan to advise judges to seek extra information before deciding how to punish offenders from certain minority groups.
Both the justice secretary and the lady chief justice, who is the head of the judiciary, will be given individual powers requiring them both to approve any future guidelines before they can be issued by the Sentencing Council.
This means that if either oppose the guidance, it will not be issued.
The council will also have to seek approval from the justice secretary to sign off its annual business plan.
The Justice Department said the reforms do not interfere with the independence of judges in making individual sentencing decisions.
Mahmood said: “Individual sentencing decisions will always be the responsibility of the independent judiciary – and this is something I will staunchly defend.”
“However, policy must be set by parliamentarians, who answer to the people.
“It is right that we now have greater democratic and judicial oversight of the direction of the Council’s work and the final guidelines they publish.”
The move forms part of wider changes to sentencing policy, including measures to stop prison overcrowding, such as including Texas-style earned release sentences and tougher community punishment.
The new powers come after ministers intervened to block updated Sentencing Council guidance earlier this year, which would have seen judges having to consider the background of offenders from certain minority groups when deciding on a punishment.
Under the proposed rules, a pre-sentence report would have usually been necessary before deciding punishment for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority, alongside other groups such as young adults aged 18 to 25, women and pregnant women.
Both the opposition and the government criticised the change.
Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick first raised concerns about the guidelines in April, saying they were biased “against straight white men” and amounted to “two-tier justice”.
Official figures show that offenders from ethnic minorities consistently get longer sentences than white offenders for indictable offences.
Mahmood had asked the Council to reconsider its guidance for judges earlier this year but it rejected her request, arguing the rules would ensure courts had the “most comprehensive information available” with which decide an appropriate punishment.
The guidelines were abandoned after ministers actioned an emergency law to override them.
