White criminals are more likely to be jailed than offenders from “ethnic minorities and faith minority communities” under shocking new sentencing guidelines, Robert Jenrick has declared.

The Shadow Justice Secretary accused the Sentencing Council of creating a “two-tier” justice system after new rules were sent to magistrates on Wednesday morning.

It tells judges that criminals “from an ethnic minority, cultural minority and/or faith minority community” should be specifically considered for pre-sentence reports, meaning they could be considered differently to white counterparts.

Mr Jenrick said a “pre-sentence report is the first step to avoiding a prison sentence”.

He declared: “Under new guidance, prison sentences will be less likely for ‘ethnic minorities’ and ‘faith minority communities’.

“This would create a two-tier justice system.

“We believe in equality under the law.

“Why doesn’t Labour?”

He added: “Why is the Justice Secretary enshrining this double standard – this two-tier approach to sentencing.

“This is an inversion of the rule of the law.

“We, on this side of the House believe, in equality under the law. Why doesn’t she?”

The changes prompted widespread fury on Wednesday, with critics warning equality “under the law is a cornerstone of our civilisation”.

Tory MP Jack Rankin added: “This is a disgrace”.

The hugely controversial new guidance also said pre-sentence reports, which are designed to “tailor” sentences most appropriate to an offender’s history and background, for example to deal with their drug addiction or homelessness, should be prepared if a criminal has declared they are “transgender”.

The Sentencing Council, explaining the changes to magistrates, said: “A pre-sentence report can be pivotal in helping the court decide whether to impose a custodial sentence or community order.”

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood responded to the alarming warning by telling MPs: “As someone who is from an ethnic minority background myself, I do not stand for any differential treatment before the law, for anyone of any kind.

“And there will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch”.

Under the new changes, pregnant women should not be sent to jail unless it is “unavoidable”.

The new guidance, which comes into force on 1 April 2025, says courts “should avoid the possibility of an offender navigating the risks associated with pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period in custody unless the imposition of a custodial sentence is unavoidable”.

It also lists pregnancy as an appropriate reason to suspend a sentence. While the guidance will not end imprisonment of pregnant women completely, it is likely to make a significant difference to the number placed behind bars.

Justice Secretary Ms Mahmood on Wednesday also warned  the “sad reality” is the backlog of cases will “still go up”.

The Lord Chancellor said on Wednesday that judges will sit collectively for 110,000 days in the next financial year – 4,000 more than allocated for the previous period – to help victims see justice done faster.

The move comes after the Victims Commissioner published a report on Tuesday warning that the record levels of crown court delays are deepening the trauma of victims and making many feel justice is “out of reach”.

The rising backlog in England and Wales has almost doubled in five years to 73,105 at the end of September last year.

Ms Mahmood told the Commons that some victims will not have their cases heard until 2028, as she said the extra sitting days will be funded by a total budget of £2.5 billion allocated for courts and tribunals in the next financial year.

It comes as a report from the Public Accounts Committee published on Wednesday raised concerns that ministers have “simply accepted” the record-high crown court backlog will continue to grow and they will wait for the results of the Leveson Review before planning changes to tackle it.

The major review, led by Sir Brian Leveson, is expected to report on reforms to the courts system in the spring.

Announcing the extra sitting days, Ms Mahmood described it as a “critical first step” but said there is more that “we must” do.

Asked how long it will take to clear the courts backlog, she told Times Radio: “We will be making progress, but the sad reality is that, even sitting to this unprecedented amount, the backlog will still go up.

“Because the demand of cases coming into the system is very, very large, and that’s why I announced some weeks ago that Brian Leveson will be carrying out a crown courts review for us to look at once-in-a-generation reform of the sorts of cases that go into our crown courts, so that we can actually bear down on that backlog in the longer term.”

Changes on which cases go to jury trials as crown courts buckle under the “sheer number of cases” coming in will be among the measures being considered in the Leveson Review, Ms Mahmood told LBC.

“He will also be considering whether we should do more with our magistrates’ courts and the sorts of cases that they can hear, or whether there is a case for a court that sits between the magistrates and the crown,” she said.

Mr Jenrick added that the Government was still not making the most of available court capacity.

He said the Old Bailey had 13 criminal courtrooms sat empty on Tuesday, Preston Crown Court had 40% of its courts unused and Winchester Crown Court had two-thirds of its courtrooms vacant.

He said that of the 6,500 the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill said were available to the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood last year in comments made to the Justice Select Committee, there are still 2,500 that have not been taken up.

He said: “As a result of the court backlog that has grown under the Justice Secretary, we need to be maximising court capacity, taking full advantage of all available days and probing the judiciary to create more capacity.”