Nationalities of 19k foreign criminals awaiting deportation from UK to be revealed

The nationalities of waiting to be deported from the UK will be revealed. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is believed to have ordered officials to publish the data for the first time by the end of the year. Figures suggest there were 19,244 individuals awaiting deportation at the end of 2024, more than 1,000 more than the 17,907 on the records when the Conservatives lost the General Election in July.

Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has claimed the announcement shows Labour has "buckled" under pressure from his party to disclose the data. However, government sources insist that this is only possible because Ms Cooper ordered Home Office statisticians to overhaul their systems after they referred to poor data quality when refusing to answer questions about the nationalities of foreign offenders. "Not only are we deporting foreign criminals at a rate never seen when Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick were in charge at the Home Office," a Home Office source said, "but we will also be publishing far more information about that cohort of offenders than the Tories ever did."

They added: "Any foreign national who abuses our country's hospitality and commits serious crimes should be in no doubt that they will face the full force of the law, and be removed from the UK at the earliest opportunity.

"But we also want to ensure the public is kept better informed about the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation, where they are from and the crimes they have committed, which is why - for the first time - ministers have tasked officials specifically with producing a greater range of data on this category of offenders, and ensuring that data is published in future in an open and transparent way."

Foreign nationals sentenced to 12 months or more in jail are eligible for automatic deportation.

However, the government can seek the removal of people who receive a lesser sentence if their presence in the UK is not deemed conducive to the public good.

Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: "We will finally see the hard reality that mass migration is fuelling crime across our country."

Mr Jenrick, who was a minister in the Home Office under the previous Government, added: "Frankly, the public deserved to know this long ago."