PRISON serves many purposes, but the main two are that it acts as a punishment and as a deterrent.

At the moment, the price of a punch is as little as two-and-a-half years. If you kill someone with a single blow, that’s all you may get – and you’ll probably serve only two-thirds of it.

This is neither a suitable punishment for taking someone’s life, nor is it stiff enough to make a thug think twice before lashing out.

Sentencing at the moment is a legal loophole because, technically, it is not usually the single punch which kills the victim.

The punch makes them fall and it is the injuries to the head as the victim crashes to the ground that often cause the fatal damage.

We believe this loophole should be closed. We believe the public need to be protected from people who think it is acceptable to get themselves so drunk that they lash out without thought, or who think it is somehow fun to pick a fight.

We believe that the certain knowledge of a long period in prison would underline how dangerous a single blow can be, and it would help deter a foolish young man in a violent situation.

If armed with this knowledge, he still goes ahead with his punch, he deserves to be punished properly.

We also believe that punishment should accurately fit the crime.

How can you say to the family of Andrew Gibson that the single punch that effectively killed him in a Darlington nightclub only merits a maximum of 30 months in prison?

So we urge the Government to make sure that in the future the price of a punch matches the cost to the victim and our wider society.