Britain’s poet laureate has slammed Tory attempts to lure her into a “media stunt” propping up their prisoner book ban while refusing talks on the issue with campaigners.

Carol Ann Duffy poured scorn on Justice Secretary Chris Grayling yesterday after his officials rejected calls for face-to-face talks with prison-reform campaigners over the widely reviled policy, which bans prisoners from receiving care packages of books, underwear and other essentials.

Mr Grayling has cited security concerns for the ban, adding that prisoners use their prison’s library collections. Critics say such collections are poorly maintained and prisoners are routinely denied their right to a library visit of at least 30 minutes once a fortnight.

Ms Duffy, one of more than 100 authors who have publicly opposed the ban, said: “I do not want to engage in a media stunt with the Lord Chancellor in visiting a prison as I, like most writers, have already visited prisons and indeed wrote the foreword to an edition of the PEN prisoners' writing anthology.

“What I and other authors want to see is government ministers taking our concerns seriously and engaging positively and publicly with the Howard League and English PEN to address the issues we have raised,” she said.

Her scathing response came as lawyers for a prisoner known as BGJ signalled that they would challenge the ban in court.

A separate legal challenge will also be brought forward by the Howard League later this week.