𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour’s sentencing reforms have led to a record number of foreign criminals prowling the streets, the Home Office has conceded. Some 21,294 convicted crooks are living in the community because they have not been deported. This is up by more than 1,000 in the past three months alone, with officials blaming the Government’s changes to sentencing rules.

Ministers introduced a “presumption” against sentences of under 12 months and tweaked deportation rules in a bid to boot out foreign criminals given a suspended sentence of 12 months or more. But critics fear it is “just making more people eligible for return who aren’t going to leave”. When Labour took office, 18,157 foreign national offenders (FNOs) were living in the community.

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 – receiving Section 4 support – accounts for almost one in five of all failed asylum seekers still being helped by taxpayers.

Home Office figures show the number of FNOs living in communities despite being eligible for deportation has soared from 3,943 in 2012 to 21,294 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 21,294.

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

This is housing and financial assistance given to failed asylum seekers whose claims for sanctuary have been refused and their appeals rejected.

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.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels, and deportations and returns are up markedly.

“Small boats numbers are also now falling, but we are not complacent and there is more we must do. That is why I have boosted enforcement on the French beaches and overseas and introduced new legislation to tackle the pull factors that draw people here through unsafe and illegal routes.

“This government is restoring control at our border and fairness to the migration system.”