The Conservatives have outlined a package of measures designed to allow all foreign criminals to be deported from Britain.
The proposals would eradicate a threshold, currently set out in the law, which says foreign offenders handed a 12-month jail term or more should face removal.
It would also build on previous proposals by the Tories to disapply the Human Rights Act in immigration cases.
The package, set out in a series of amendments to Labour’s borders bill, would also allow ministers to stop issuing visas to foreign nationals whose governments refuse to take back individuals – including criminals – from the UK.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘These tough new measures show the Conservatives are prepared to do whatever it takes to deport foreign criminals from the UK.
‘If a foreign citizen commits a crime here, we should kick them out – it is as simple as that.
‘We can’t allow endless appeals and prevarication – the Government has a duty to protect British citizens from these often dangerous offenders.
‘And where another country won’t take back their own citizens – including criminals – then the Government must stop issuing new visas to people from those countries.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said that these new measures show that Conservatives are prepared to do ‘whatever it takes to deport foreign criminals’
The package, set out in a series of amendments to Labour ’s borders bill, would also allow ministers to stop issuing visas to foreign nationals. Pictured: Keir Starmer
Kemi Badenoch (pictured) has pledged to place UK sovereignty first under the proposed bill
The Conservatives said the legal changes would ‘require a foreign national convicted of any crime to be removed from the UK’.
Current law says foreign offenders should automatically face deportation if they have been sentenced to a prison sentence of 12 months or more.
However, legal challenges – particularly under the Human Rights Act – can often prevent them from being sent back.
At the weekend the Tories announced measures which would disapply the entire Human Rights Act in immigration cases.
The moves, in another amendment to the current borders Bill, would stop foreign nationals seeking to bring human rights appeals against deportation or other immigration decisions.
Instead, only British domestic law would apply in such cases, the Tories said, as part of leader Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to place UK sovereignty first.
It comes after widespread concern over the last 15 years over the use of human rights laws by foreign criminals.
Earlier this month the Mail revealed how a Jamaican criminal jailed for 20 years for a horrific manslaughter had dodged deportation after bringing a challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights, which is enshrined in UK law in Labour’s Human Rights Act.
A Home Office source said: ‘The Tories had 14 years to reform immigration and asylum, yet they left a system in chaos and our borders weaker.
A Jamaican criminal jailed for 20 years for a horrific manslaughter had dodged deportation after bringing a challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights (pictured: European Court of Human Rights)
Another amendment to the current borders Bill, would stop foreign nationals seeking to bring human rights appeals against deportation or other immigration decisions. Pictured: Migrants wave to a smuggler’s boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel
‘They could have progressed these measures in any of the many immigration bills they passed in Government, including the three whilst Chris Philp was a Home Office minister.
‘The Labour Government is getting a grip on the system.‘As with all proposed amendments to government bills, these will be examined as part of the Parliamentary process.’
It came as it emerged there were 104,000 convictions of foreign nationals in the UK recorded in three years, according to analysis of data from the Police National Computer by the Centre for Migration Control.
It included 38,413 violent, sexual assault and drug crimes, as well as theft, between 2021 and 2023.
