Most foreign criminals convicted by a UK court will be deported immediately, instead of 30% of the way through their prison sentences, under plans announced by the government.
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has proposed a change in legislation that will give the government the power to deport most foreign prisoners as soon as they are convicted and incarcerated.
However, foreign terrorists, murderers and other serious offenders who have been given indeterminate sentences will continue to serve their time in the UK before being considered for deportation.
Prison governors will also retain the power to decide against deporting a foreign criminal who has been given a fixed-term sentence – known as a determinate sentence – if, for example, they consider the offender poses such a serious threat to the UK’s interests or national security that they should remain behind bars in a British prison.
Offenders who are deported will be barred from re-entering the UK and the measures will apply to all foreign national offenders already in custody, as well as those newly sentenced, to reduce taxpayer expenditure on foreign prisoners.
Each prison place costs the government £54,000 a year on average and foreign offenders make up about 12% of the total prison population, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The government has already passed legislation that will come into force in September, allowing prison governors to deport foreign criminals who have served 30% of their prison time, as opposed to the current 50%.
Under the latest proposed powers, which must be voted on by parliament before they come into law, the amount of time most foreign prisoners must serve in UK prisons before deportation would be reduced to 0%.
Mahmood said the government was taking “radical action” and the legislation would ensure deportations happen “earlier than ever before”.
“Our message is clear: if you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing,” she said.
The Prison Service is at nearly 97.5% capacity and came within days of collapse on three occasions in the last few months of Rishi Sunak’s government, an independent review by a former prisons watchdog found on Tuesday.
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After taking power in July 2024, Keir Starmer responded to the crisis by allowing some offenders to leave prison after serving 40% of their sentence, arguing that an early release scheme was necessary to “avert disaster” and reduce overcrowding.
The government has since deported more than 5,000 foreign prisoners, an annual increase of 14%, and invested £5m on a special taskforce to speed up removals of these offenders from almost 80 jails.
Despite this, “record numbers of violent and sexual offenders from abroad” are serving time in UK prisons, the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said.
He blamed Starmer for refusing to change “broken human rights laws” which he claimed were preventing the government from deporting foreign criminals. “It’s a farce,” he said. “He needs to grow a backbone … so we can actually deport these individuals.”
Jenrick added: “If countries won’t take back their nationals, Starmer should suspend visas and foreign aid. His soft-touch approach isn’t working.”