LONDON (dpa-AFX) - The UK Government announced that it will strip back a decades-old law to introduce new powers for immediate deportation of convicted foreign criminals from prison.
The new power will get foreign national offenders out of prisons ahead of their convicted terms.
The change follows legislation introduced by the Government in June, which will mean most foreign prisoners can now be deported after serving 30 percent of their prison time, rather than 50 percent.
Offenders who are deported are barred from re-entering the UK. Terrorists, murderers and others serving life sentences will continue to have to serve their prison sentence before being considered for deportation, the Ministry of Justice and Home Office said.
Ramping up removals of foreign national offenders has been a priority for this Government with almost 5,200 deported since July 2024. The government has also invested 5 million pounds for the deployment of specialist staff to around 80 jails to speed up removals.
This is part of our Plan for Change to fix the broken criminal justice system we inherited and make our streets safer. This includes building 14,000 more prison places, reforming sentencing, and ensuring that victims get the support they need.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said, 'This Government is taking radical action to deport foreign criminals, as part of our Plan for Change. Deportations are up under this Government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before.'
'Our message is clear: if you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing.'
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry said more foreign criminals will have their appeals heard from abroad, preventing them from gaming the system to delay their deportation from the UK, in the latest step to restore order to the UK's immigration system as part of the Government's Plan for Change.
The scope of the 'Deport Now Appeal Later' scheme will be nearly trebled from eight countries to 23, with foreign nationals from those countries expected to be deported to their home countries before they can appeal against that decision, increasing the UK's ability to remove foreign criminals at the earliest opportunity, and easing pressure on the detention and prison estate.
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