It was not quite at the eleventh hour – but it wasn’t too far off. The Sentencing Council has tonight decided to delay the introduction of so-called ‘two-tier guidance’ after being threatened with emergency legislation to block it by the government. The new guidelines, which had been due to come into force on Tuesday, would have required magistrates and judges to consult a pre-sentence report before deciding whether to imprison someone of an ethnic or religious minority, or a young adult, abuse survivor or pregnant woman.