The Closure of Prisons Order 2014 is a statutory instrument of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

In 2013 and 2014, the UK coalition government undertook a programme of policies which Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said would "modernise our prisons, bring down costs, ... [and] make sure that ... we still have access to more prison places than we inherited in 2010".

[8] Peter Aldous, the MP for Waveney, opposed the closure of HM Prison Blundeston and called on the Ministry of Justice to publish the report on which the decision was based.

[9] Labour politician Bob Blizzard called the closure of Blundeston a "panic measure" to help the government's economic plans and criticised the fact that the prison had been newly refurbished.

[10] Plans to close HM Prison Dorchester were opposed by Richard Drax who said that the savings the government was hoping to make were "a false economy" due to Dorset probation officers having to go to Exeter to meet with prisoners.