Tories to deport all foreign criminals guilty of ‘non-minor crimes’

The Tories have said they would deport 40,000 foreign criminals a year as part of the party’s plan to introduce stricter deportation guidelines.

Automatic deportation would be brought in for any foreign national sent to prison or convicted of anything “beyond the most minor offences”, the Conservatives said.

Meanwhile, British citizenship would be stripped from dual nationals who have lived in the UK for less than 15 years, but have been jailed for more than five years.

The policy would raise the number of deportations from 6,000 a year to 40,000, the party said.

It backed more use of controversial live-facial recognition as it said the technology would be rolled out to 100 “high-crime areas”.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour is letting ‘serious foreign criminals roam our streets’ (PA)

PA Wire

The Conservative Party claimed there are more than 21,000 “serious foreign criminals” living in communities who Labour and previous Tory governments have failed to deport.

According to the Tories, no foreign criminals have been sent back to Iran, Sudan, Eritrea or Syria despite 839 of their nationals sitting in prisons in England and Wales.

They said only 11 Jamaicans were deported of the 357 in prison, along with six Iraqis of the 306 and nine Somalis of the 235 inside.

Anyone deported would be banned from returning to the UK unless the Home Secretary gave permission under their plans.

They said “low-level violations”, including parking tickets, littering, dog fouling or failing to have a TV licence would be exempt. The Home Secretary would also have the power to offer clemency.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

The proposals depend on the current plans by the Tories to leave the European Convention on Human Rights as it said it is being used by the courts to keep criminals in the UK.

The Tories have already said they would take Britain out of the Human Rights Act and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “We must deport all foreign criminals – it’s that simple. If someone comes to Britain and commits a crime, once jail time is served, they must go.

“Labour continues to let serious foreign criminals roam our streets and many go on to commit more serious crimes.

“Nobody should be surprised given Labour’s Home Secretary previously signed a letter demanding that all flights deporting Jamaican criminals be cancelled.

“Labour thinks the supposed rights of foreign criminals are more important than protecting the law-abiding British public. That is unjust and unfair.

“The next Conservative government will deport every foreign criminal, leave the ECHR so that lawyers can no longer keep them here, and hit any country that refuses to take its criminals back with visa sanctions and aid cuts.

“We will take deportations from under 6,000 a year to 40,000. We will not apologise for putting the safety of the British public first.”

A Labour source said: “This Government requires no lessons from the Conservatives.

“Returns of foreign national criminals are up 36% under this Government.

“Don’t listen to their rhetoric – judge them on the reality that they failed to deliver in office.”

A Government spokesperson said: “Nearly 10,000 foreign criminals including murderers and rapists have been removed since the last election.

“Any foreign national who receives a prison sentence in the UK is referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity and will be barred from ever returning.”