Justice Secretary vows to send thousands of foreign criminals 'packing'

A minister has issued a stern warning that foreign criminals should not be provided with "free bed and board" as the government pledges to "send them packing".

The Government is set to introduce measures for instant deportation straight from prison, mandating the immediate expulsion of all foreign nationals who commit crimes. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has suggested a legislative amendment which could save the taxpayer an average of £54,000 annually per prison place and result in up to 3,000 international offenders being expelled from the UK.

This policy will affect those serving fixed-term sentences, while authorities will maintain the discretion to either deport or retain criminals in custody. The move follows Keir Starmer's praise for a significant UK-France agreement aimed at addressing the issue of small boat crossings across the Channel.

Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Alex Davies-Jones told the Sunday Mirror: "Foreign criminals who come here and break the law should expect to be deported - not given free bed and board in our jails while their victims must rebuild their lives.

"Today's announcement is about putting victims first. Today, too many victims see their offenders serve time in a British jail, at their expense, and then leave prison with a right to remain in this country. Now, that will change. Foreign criminals will face immediate deportation following sentencing and lifetime bans from re-entering the UK. Victims can be safe in the knowledge that their perpetrators cannot return to these shores to offend again."

"This is part of our Plan for Change to fix the broken criminal justice system we inherited and make our streets safer. This includes building 14,000 more prison places, reforming sentencing and ensuring victims get the support they need. This Government will always be on the side of victims and survivors, not those who harm them."

The sweeping reforms will affect all but terrorists or life sentence prisoners, with exceptions made only if deportation poses a threat to national security or endangers victims. Britain's prisons currently house approximately 10,000 foreign nationals, with one in four awaiting trial or sentencing.

Since July 2024, the Government has successfully deported nearly 5,200 foreign national offenders, marking a 14% increase from the previous year.

Following an amendment to legislation in June, set to take effect in September, inmates will now face deportation after serving just 30% of their sentence, down from the current halfway mark. However, the Government's ambitious plan to reduce this threshold to nil still requires Parliamentary approval.

Ms Madmood declared: "This Government is taking radical action to deport foreign criminals, as part of our Plan for Change. Deportations are up under this Government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before. Our message is clear: if you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing."

The decision is expected to cause unease among certain Labour MPs, who have expressed concerns about the language employed by the Government.

Earlier this year, over 100 refugee charities penned an open letter to the Prime Minister urging for cohesive communities and an end to "hostile politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past".

Under international law, nations are obligated to accept their own citizens back, meaning agreements with other states are unnecessary.

The government can simply place offenders on aircraft and return them.

In May, the Independent Sentencing Review suggested altering the law so that most foreign inmates could be removed after completing 30 per cent of their sentence, rather than 50 per cent, and up to four years before release, instead of the current 18 months.

Ministers have also allocated £5 million for deploying specialist personnel to nearly 80 prisons with an emphasis on removals.

According to a Labour source, the previous Conservative administration depended on prisoner transfer arrangements with other nations to remove foreign national criminals, through deals which permit inmates to complete their custodial terms in their "home" nation.

This resulted in 945 inmates being transferred to overseas prisons between 2010 and 2023, equivalent to fewer than one-and-a-half offenders per week.

Foreign national criminals comprise approximately 12 per cent of the prison population.