The prime minister’s pledge to end the scandal of indefinite jail terms “will finally bring justice and hope” to thousands of prisoners languishing without a release date, campaigners say.

Andy Burnham announced on Sunday he will “end the injustice” of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms by the end of this parliament as he unveiled plans to limit the number of other prisoners being released early, including Pc Andrew Harper’s killers.

has long campaigned for all IPP prisoners to have their sentences reviewed, highlighting the plight of thousands jailed without hope.

Campaigners have hailed the move as an “essential first step towards healing” after years of anguish.

“This will finally bring justice and hope to IPPs and their families,” said Bernadette Emerson, co-founder of the IPP Solidarity Movement, whose husband Abdullahi Suleman has served almost 20 years for a laptop robbery.

His case, previously reported by The Independent, formed part a major complaint to the United Nations, which issued a damning legal opinion issued last month concluding he and several other IPP prisoners are being arbitrarily detained. The government is now facing a major legal challenge over their imprisonment.

Campaigner Shirley Debono, whose son Shaun Lloyd has been recalled five times and served nearly 14 years for snatching a phone, said she was “absolutely overwhelmed”.

“After all these years of campaigning, fighting, being ignored and watching IPP prisoners and their families suffer, to finally hear the prime minister say he will end the injustice of IPP sentences this parliament feels incredible,” said the mother, who co-founded IPP Committee in Action.

“The words ‘people will no longer be trapped indefinitely under a sentence abolished more than a decade ago’ are something I never thought I would hear from a prime minister.

“I’m so excited, but also emotional, because I know what this has meant for so many families. I’m thinking of every IPP prisoner who has spent years trapped under this sentence and every family who has fought alongside them.”

Campaign group United Group for Reform of IPP (UNGRIPP) said the IPP nightmare may finally be ending, halting “decades of disproportionate punishment, institutional trauma, and loss of hope”.

CEO Marc Conway said: “This is a day that thousands of families have spent years fighting for. For too long, their loved ones have been trapped by a sentence that was acknowledged as flawed over a decade ago.

“While we welcome this critical action by the government, we do so with heavy hearts for those who did not live to see this day, and for the families torn apart by years of endless uncertainty.

“Legislation alone cannot undo twenty years of damage, but it is the essential first step toward healing.”

Tragically, the move comes too late for 96 IPP prisoners who took their own lives after losing hope of getting out, including Tommy Nicol, who died aged 37 in 2015. Before he died, Tommy described his IPP sentence as “psychological torture of a person who is doing 99 years.”

UNGRIPP urged the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the implementation of this decision is swift, transparent, and includes comprehensive community and mental health support.

Announcing the decision on Sunday morning, Mr Burnham said he had listened to the voices of families with loved ones convicted under IPP sentences and taken a “common sense” approach.

"I was faced with a situation where people on those sentences who have more than served their time, not being released when others who've committed very serious crimes being released early," he told BBC Breakfast.

"The judgement I've made is the public, in my view, would prefer a situation where people who have served their time to be considered for release before those who haven't.”

The government will table legislation to terminate the sentences by the "end of this Parliament", he added.

He noted the government will take a “very careful” approach to how this is done and said a cross-party oversight group would be established.

The open-ended sentences – which has campaigned for more than two years to have reviewed – were outlawed in 2012, but not retrospectively. Introduced under New Labour in a bid to be tough on crime, they were handed to many repeat offenders, even if their crimes were minor. They have left thousands languishing without a release date, with some now having served up to 22 times longer than their original tariff.

The UN has repeatedly raised concerns the jail term causes psychological torture. In a damning legal opinion this month, their Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Britain’s treatment of five IPP prisoners is unlawful, including Abdullahi Suleman, who is still in custody 20 years after he was handed an IPP for a laptop robbery; Leroy Douglas, who has served 20 years for a phone robbery; Wayne Williams, who has spent more than 19 years in prison without release for a 23-month jail term for attempting to injure a police officer in a fight; and Mr Lloyd, 39, who was recently hauled back to prison for the fifth time for street robbery.

Sadly, Joshua Mcrae, died in prison aged 34, having served more than 16 years for a four-year tariff for grievous bodily harm.

There are almost 2,300 IPP prisoners still trapped on the jail term, including more than 800 who have never been released. Eight in ten of those who have never been freed have served at least ten years longer than their original minimum tariff.

Lord David Blunkett, who has previously admitted ushering in the jail terms under Tony Blair’s government is his “biggest regret” and led calls for reform, welcomed the news.

“I am very pleased,” he told The Independent, adding that both the prime minister and justice secretary are “committed to getting this right”.

He cautioned that the sentence will “take time to resolve” and some prisoners whose mental health has deteriorated on the jail term may need some longer term specialist provision.

“I am both relieved and enthused,” he added. “I am relieved for the individuals and enthused that the justice secretary and prime minister care so much.”

Lord Woodley, who has previously tabled a bill for all IPP prisoners to be resentenced, said although the end of this “terrible injustice” has come too late for those who have taken their own lives, it gives “real hope” to other prisoners and their families.

“It is welcome and long-overdue, and I pay tribute to the many campaigners for bringing us to today's historic announcement,” he added.

Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “It is fantastic that the prime minister is using this moment of crisis in prisons to do the right thing regarding the IPP sentence.

“This is a group of people, most very many years over tariff, who have suffered a grave injustice and deserve supported release. It is vital that the promise of this moment is not lost and that government follows through on this commitment. People on the sentence and their loved ones have suffered so much – they cannot be let down again.”

However, shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said he had “serious questions” about the government’s proposals, including the release of IPP prisoners.

“Will they all be released? Just some? How many? And on what timescale? What about those who would have had a life sentence had IPP not existed?,” he wrote on X (Twitter).