It's a typical tory policy nowadays of appealing to the populist vote without any thought for the future regarding their decisions.
The tories that shrank the budget for youth intervention that helped keep vulnerable kids away from a life of crime are now reacting to the shortcomings of that policy with Victorian methods of correction.
I detest criminals as much as everyone else, but where, if this policy passes through parliament, is the rehabilitation of those young offenders coming from?
Dressing offenders up in orange suits will undoubtedly appeal to the 'flog them' brigade as they watch them pick up the litter many of those that decry them will have dropped, but if it isn't a method of correction that changes them, then it's just another headline grabbing waste of time like the 'short, sharp, shock' bullshit from the 80's.