𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

More than 900 foreign criminals lounging in taxpayer-funded accommodation are failed asylum seekers, the Daily Express can reveal. Some 1,500 offenders from overseas have been given free homes because they cannot be deported. And some 929 of them have had their asylum claims and appeals rejected, the Home Office has admitted.

This cohort accounts for almost one in five of all failed asylum seekers still being helped by taxpayers. Official figures show they are receiving what is called Section 4 support, including accommodation and financial help, typically £49.18 per week each. The revelation will reignite demands for Britain to leave the “wretched” European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as critics blasted the “morally indefensible” situation.

Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, said the ECHR has become a “straitjacket” on Britain’s ability to control its borders.

He said: “It is almost hard to comprehend how disgraceful this situation actually is.

“The Home Office is not just housing illegal migrants, but illegal migrants who have been convicted of a crime. They have no right to be in Britain whatsoever.

“It is morally indefensible that the taxpayer is being made to support these individuals, who should be offered nothing but a one-way plane ticket out of the country.

“Our country is now a hotel for the world’s very worst.

“Nothing will change until we remove ourselves from the straitjacket of the ECHR and refugee convention and begin pursuing a border policy that is unashamedly in the national interest.”

Labour is battling a growing removals backlog, with almost 20,000 foreign crooks, known as Foreign National Offenders, living across Britain.

Home Office figures show the number living in communities despite being eligible for deportation has soared from 3,943 in 2012 to 19,779 this year.

It has nearly doubled from 10,373 in the final three months of 2020.

Under Labour, the backlog of foreign criminals who have dodged deportation has increased nearly 10%, from 18,074 to 19,779.

And Home Office figures – revealed by Freedom of Information requests submitted by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford – show 929 Foreign National Offenders are receiving Section 4 support.

Many countries refuse to take back their nationals. And human rights laws prevent the Home Office from booting out convicted criminals to countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran and Syria.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Here is yet more migration madness. This weak Labour government is allowing convicted foreign criminals to lounge around at taxpayers’ expense in cushy hotels and flats.

“Many of these criminals have even had their bogus asylum claims rejected – yet they are still here.

“Foreign criminals should all be deported. It’s as simple as that. And that is exactly what the next Conservative government will ensure happens.

“Once again we see the effects of the ECHR.

“This is allowing these foreign criminals to not only stay in the UK but luxuriate in taxpayer funded accommodation.

“This is yet another reason why we need to leave the wretched ECHR. But Andy Burnham and Shabana Mahmood are more interested in the supposed human rights of foreign criminals than they are in protecting the British public and taking care of our money.”

Reform’s Zia Yusuf told the Daily Express: “The uni-party is actively putting our women and children in danger.

“Almost 1,000 foreign national criminals living in Britain’s communities are failed asylum seekers.

“Instead of being deported on the first plane out of Britain, the Tory and Labour governments are putting migrant criminals up in luxury hotels and houses at the British taxpayers’ expense.

“Only Reform UK will put British people first, leave the ECHR and detain and deport all illegal migrants.”

The Home Office insisted that the decision to release a foreign criminal into the community is “never taken lightly”, before adding “suitable accommodation is sourced prior to their release to manage them effectively”.

This corroborates evidence given to MPs by asylum accommodation provider Serco, which revealed a “lack of returns agreements with certain countries means their nationals will never be deported”.

They added: “These individuals are therefore transferred to asylum accommodation on an indefinite basis.”