UK to deport foreign criminals to free up jail space

Tara Cobham, The Independent

The UK is set to deport foreign criminals to free up prison space in the government’s latest immigration crackdown. Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed the offenders will be sent “packing” immediately when they receive a custodial sentence. The proposed law change — which could save taxpayers an average of £54,000 per year, per prison place — would apply to prisoners serving fixed-term “determinate” sentences. Authorities would also retain their power not to deport a criminal but instead keep them in custody, for example, if the offender was planning further crimes against the UK’s interests or national security.

“Our message is clear,” Ms Mahmood said. “If you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing.” She added: “Deportations are up under this government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before.” Almost 5,200 foreign national offenders have been deported since July 2024, a 14 per cent increase on the 12 months prior, according to the government. The justice secretary’s announcement follows a tweak in the law in June — expected to come into force in September — which will see prisoners face deportation 30 per cent into their prison sentence rather than the current 50 per cent.

The government will need parliament to greenlight its proposal to bring this down to 0 per cent. According to a Labour source, the previous Conservative government relied on prison transfer agreements with other countries to deport foreign national offenders, in deals which allow inmates to serve their custodial sentence in their “home” country.

This saw 945 prisoners sent to jails abroad between 2010 and 2023. Foreign national offenders make up around 12 per cent of the prison population. Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: “In Starmer’s topsy-turvy world investors are fleeing the country in their droves while record numbers of violent and sexual offenders from abroad are put up in our prisons. It’s a farce. “Yet again Starmer has refused to confront our broken human rights laws. He needs to grow a backbone and change them so we can actually deport these individuals. The safety of the British public is infinitely more important than the ‘rights’ of sick foreign criminals.

“If countries won’t take back their nationals, Starmer should suspend visas and foreign aid. His soft-touch approach isn’t working.”

The prison population currently stands at 88,007, just 514 below the record high of 88,521, which was reached on 6 September last year. The government has vowed to create 14,000 new prison places by 2031. Ms Mahmood has also accepted a string of recommendations following a major report by David Gauke, which will see some offenders serve less of their sentence in custody in sweeping reforms expected to ease pressure on prisons. The proposed law change comes amid the government’s wider crackdown on immigration. Labour has put a pledge to tackle the number of people coming to the UK on small boats at the centre of its plan for government.

Last week, figures showed that the number of migrants arriving in the UK this year after crossing the English Channel topped 25,000 — the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 25,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018. With boat crossings at a record high, and the asylum backlog still above 75,000, there is mounting pressure on ministers to take more drastic action — pressure which is exacerbated by the success of Reform UK in the polls.

Meanwhile, escalating protests are breaking out across the UK opposing the use of hotels to house asylum seekers. In recent days, the government announced further measures to support its crackdown on illegal migration, including pouring an extra £100m into the efforts. The money will support the pilot of the UK’s new “one in, one out” deal with France, paying for up to 300 more National Crime Agency officers and new technology and equipment to step up intelligence-gathering on smuggling gangs. The first small boat migrants were detained this week under the UK’s new returns agreement with Emmanuel Macron and could be sent back to France within weeks.

The agreement, announced by the prime minister in a joint press conference with the French president last month, means that for each small boat migrant sent back across the English Channel, an asylum seeker will be allowed to enter the UK from France under a legal route.