Under a pilot scheme running until the spring, officers will not act on breaches of police curfews or tag batteries of under an hour, unless the person wearing the tag is considered to be of particular risk to the public.
The country's largest police force has been clear in its instruction to officers that these types of breach notifications are still to be reviewed, but will only progress to potential arrest in cases where there are risk or safeguarding concerns.
High-risk offenders, such as domestic abusers, will be prioritised.
It comes after public warnings from Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley about the pressures imposed by the government's early release scheme, which he has said he's "worried" about.
The Met says it's arresting two or three early release prisoners per week who are being recalled to prison because of further offending, with Commissioner Rowley saying his officers are policing "over 100 tag breaches a day".
The pilot is designed to increase capacity for officers to manage higher risk enforcement or persistent offending, and is expected to reduce breaches requiring police action by more than 15%.
Sky News spent time with a Met police unit in south London, tracking 'wanted' offenders, who breach licence or tag conditions.
One sergeant told us "there are not enough cops" to manage the early release of thousands of offenders.
Sometimes breaches that show up on the system have an innocent explanation - like the offender leaving their property to go to hospital, or even outside the perimeter of the property which they're confined to.
At other times, there are lags in the system meaning the authorities aren't notified for a considerable amount of time. In that time, crimes can be committed.
The government said that after inheriting a prison system "on the brink of collapse", failing to act would have forced police "to halt arrests, putting communities at untold risk".
A spokesperson added: "We will never jeopardise public safety. To manage offenders out on licence, we are rolling out the toughest-ever controls, including world-first restriction zones, the largest expansion of electronic tagging, and giving victims a say in licence conditions."
The government also stressed that they were "putting thousands more" neighbourhood police officers on to the streets, increasing police funding to £18.5bn and "taking investment in the probation service to record levels".
Early prisoner release, brought in to manage prison overcrowding, has been a controversial feature of the criminal justice system for a number of years under successive governments.
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It means that serious criminals can be released halfway through their sentences, as opposed to two-thirds under the old rules, while those in prison for less serious crimes can be freed after serving only a third of their sentence behind bars.
Offenders then serve the remainder of their sentence with licence conditions, and wear tags. Electronic tagging is also used for people on bail or awaiting trial.
The Met Police told Sky News in response that "in the type of cases where breaches have previously not resulted in any consequence through the court system, we are working with partners to explore the most appropriate penalty or consequence, so that police time can be focused where it has the greatest impact".
A spokesperson for the force added: "That means freeing up officers to focus on work that better protects the public, including pursuing offenders responsible for high-risk breaches.
"Where offenders have briefly stepped outside for a cigarette, or police are notified 19 hours later that they were 15 minutes late returning home, tying up several officers for hours is not the best use of resources."
The exercise involved one of the largest UK airborne operations in two decades, with 600 British and French paratroopers jumping from RAF A400M transport planes.
It is the first time that troops and specialist equipment have been brought together at this scale from low-altitude jumps, the Ministry of Defence said.
The combined exercise comes at a time of heightened tension in Europe, with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin being blamed for arson, sabotage and assassinations in European nations.
News of the seven-week exercise comes days after Paris revealed that British jets had joined French counterparts for their first joint exercise involving France's airborne nuclear capability.
'Large-scale airborne power anywhere it's needed'
Exercise Rhino Titan, held at the Sennelager military training centre in Germany, has been testing the UK's 16 Air Assault Brigade against an enemy equipped with drones and electronic warfare, the kind of technology Russia could be expected to deploy.
The brigade is the UK military's Global Response Force, which is held at very high readiness to respond to global crises, from humanitarian operations to warfighting.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said modern threats required "an updated, modern approach to warfare" and that UK forces were "preparing accordingly".
"Alongside our French and German allies, this large-scale training exercise shows we can deliver rapid, large-scale airborne power anywhere it's needed to defend NATO territory.
"This combination of troops and specialised equipment is what is required to deter our adversaries and keep Britain and our allies safe," he added.
Brigadier Ed Cartwright, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, said the exercise had: "Given a realistic challenge to defend NATO territory and pitted against an enemy using drones and electronic warfare, which is what we would face on the modern battlefield."
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Three RAF Chinook helicopters also took part in the training, carrying out tasks such as relocating a medical reception station by air.
Over the last year and a half, UK forces have increased training activity, progressing from basic parachuting to formation flying, simulated mass drops and integrated personnel-and-stores delivery.
On Friday, the prime minister announced that RAF Chinooks and A400M planes would be equipped to fight fires - providing the first military aerial firefighting capability based permanently in the UK.
This month, the MoD agreed a £190m contract extension with Airbus, which aims to increase the number of A400M aircraft able to carry out missions that are available each day from 10 to 13 by the end of 2027.
Incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva takes on Senator Flavio Bolsonaro - the son of disgraced former president Jair Bolsonaro - and the two have been broadly neck and neck in the closing days.
Donald Trump, a vocal defender of Jair Bolsonaro since his election defeat in 2022, hasn't publicly endorsed any candidate.
But Lula da Silva has accused his opponent of plotting with the Trump administration and warned Washington against encroaching on Brazil's sovereignty.
It also comes at a time when the White House's foreign policy is shaped by an idea originally advocated in the 1830s - the Monroe doctrine - that the Americas should be a US sphere of influence.
Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro wrapped up their campaigns on Saturday ahead of the vote, mobilising supporters and making a final push for undecided voters.
A series of polls on Saturday showed Bolsonaro and Lula about level, with the right-wing politician still favourite to win after finishing ahead of the leftist incumbent in the first round.
Lula is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term. He said at a rally in Rio de Janeiro: "We're going to win the election for one simple reason: it's true that the people want change, (but) they want to move forward. They don't want to go backward."
Later, the 80-year-old president led another march in Sao Paulo.
Bolsonaro, meanwhile, joined a motorcycle caravan in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, a key battleground state. No candidate has won the presidency without taking Minas Gerais since the country's return to democracy in the 1980s.
"The time is almost here. There are only a few hours left before we shape the future of our nation for the next 30 or 40 years," Bolsonaro said in a social media video.
He later also took his campaign to Rio, which he has represented in the Senate since 2019.
The younger Bolsonaro is supported by his father. The former president was sentenced to over 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula.
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Like Trump in the 2020 US election, Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede he lost the 2022 vote, triggering riots by supporters who stormed government buildings.
The Brazilian supreme court convicted him in September 2025 of plotting a coup to remain in power.
The US has taken action against those who it says have been involved in the "persecution" of Jair Bolsonaro and others on the right of Brazilian politics.
In July 2025, Washington announced a series of measures, including revoking the visas of eight supreme court justices and imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods.
In the same month, the US announced sanctions against Brazil supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes - who led the criminal investigations into Jair Bolsonaro - citing his alleged violations of free-speech rights by censoring anti-government social-media posts.
Washington eventually watered down the trade sanctions, after major US and Brazilian firms reliant on bilateral trade pushed back.
Meanwhile, in December, without an official explanation from the Treasury Department, the US removed Justice Moraes from its sanctions list.
Mario Braga, a Latin America analyst at risk intelligence firm RANE, believes Trump may have opted not to publicly endorse Flavio Bolsonaro to avoid being seen as meddling in Brazil's election - something that could rebound by boosting Lula's popularity.
Nonetheless, after Flavio Bolsonaro narrowly beat Lula in the first-round election earlier this month, Trump called it a big victory.
"Close, but a very, very big victory," he told reporters. "Amazing, actually."
Next week's budget will include funding to support local economies across England with the aim of boosting growth, the government has said.
Continuing with his pledge to boost devolution, the prime minister said leaders will get more control over investment in their communities under the Good Growth funding scheme.
"I'm calling time on local leaders going cap in hand to Westminster. That is no way to run a country," Mr Burnham said.
"When I became prime minister, I said that if a decision can be made closer to home, it should be.
"Today we're putting that into practice, shifting power into the hands of the people who know their communities best."
The funding forms part of Mr Burnham's push to rewire the power structures and invest in communities though devolution.
Soon after he was won the Labour leadership contest, the former mayor of Manchester made devolution a key part of his platform and has pledged to deliver the "biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen".
When the budget is unveiled on Wednesday, Chancellor John Healey will vow to unlock growth across Britain by putting communities in control of their economic future.
He said the package would end the era of power and resources being hoarded in Whitehall rather than in communities.
"Local people have the right to decide their own future," he said.
"Every community in Britain has potential - for too many it has gone untapped and wasted while money and power has been held in Westminster."
The government said the funding could go towards bringing empty shops and abandoned high streets back to life or improving transport links.
Mr Healey said: "Mayors and local leaders know what their communities need to grow, which is why we are giving them more money, more power and more capacity to get projects moving, build homes and make the right decisions for their areas.
"By putting more power and funding into local hands, we can unlock growth, create opportunity and restore hope for the future."
The announcement comes as the Conservatives challenged Mr Healey to deliver a plan to boost defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.
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In June, Mr Healey resigned as defence secretary over a row about defence funding, during which he warned that the government's failure to adequately fund the military made Britain less safe.
In his resignation letter, Healey said: "I am certain that a headmark date for 3% of GDP on defence in 2030 is what Britain must set."
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said Mr Healey must resign if he does not announce the funding boost in the budget.
"By the end of his budget statement, John Healey must have fully funded 3% defence spending, or resign," he said.
"We are living in an era of extraordinary threats, and yet the chancellor is dithering over finding the money to pay the country's insurance premium.
"No firm would be left unscathed by a serious attack on UK soil.
"It's time for John Healey to get a grip, because you cannot have a strong economy without a strong defence."
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the prime minister said immigration into Britain had been "different" since Brexit, with more foreigners moving permanently.
"Freedom of movement had very significant challenges associated with it and I spoke about them in my previous time in parliament," Mr Burnham told the newspaper.
"But, at the same time, it was a type of immigration that perhaps wasn't as difficult [as now].
"Revolving door migration where people would come and then go back is different. The balance of migration has changed, hasn't it, since then? I think we've just got to have an honest discussion about those things."
Mr Burnham's remarks are the latest in a series of comments since he entered Downing Street in June that signal his openness to forming closer ties with Brussels or even rejoining the EU.
During the 2016 Brexit referendum, free movement, which allowed people from EU countries to move to the UK, was fiercely debated and has come to be viewed as a key reason why the country voted to leave the bloc.
The EU's freedom of movement principle is a core right of the bloc that allows all citizens of EU member states - as well as a few other countries - to travel, live, work, and study in any other participating country without needing a work permit or facing nationality-based discrimination. UK membership of the EU resulted in large numbers of EU citizens moving to Britain.
Following Brexit, a new points-based system for granting visas to migrants was introduced, but net migration also initially surged before falling in recent months.
The prime minister said that while he would not yet "jump to a firm position" on free movement, staying out of such an agreement would not be a red line in talks either.
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Mr Burnham argued that pre-Brexit, net migration was lower in Britain because many arrivals from the EU came for just a few years before returning home.
Last month, Mr Burnham said the UK should consider its options for a future relationship with the EU, including rejoining the bloc and re-entering the single market and customs union.
Only a few days before at the Labour Party's annual conference, Mr Burnham said Britain should consider its "long-term relationship with our European partners".
He also said that Brexit had done "more harm than good".
In the lead up to his return to Westminster, Mr Burnham described Brexit as "damaging" and a "catastrophic mistake".
During his campaign for the Makerfield by-election that paved the way for him to become prime minister, Mr Burnham played down suggestions he intended to reopen the Brexit debate.
He promised not to "re-run" Brexit arguments and said he was not proposing the UK considers rejoining the EU.
The Labour manifesto in its current form rules out that the party will seek to rejoin the EU.
Any shift in Labour's policy is sure to trigger criticism from the Conservatives and Reform.