Foreign criminals to face immediate deportation

The new power announced today (10 August) will get foreign national offenders out of our prisons, saving money for British taxpayers and protecting the public from dangerous criminals.

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.

Today, the Government has announced it will go even further—stripping back a decades-old law to introduce new powers for immediate deportation from prison. Offenders who are deported are barred from re-entering the UK, keeping their victims and the wider public safe. Terrorists, murderers and others serving life sentences will continue to have to serve their prison sentence before being considered for deportation.

Ramping up removals of foreign national offenders has been a priority for this Government with almost 5,200 deported since July 2024 – an increase of 14% compared to the same 12 months prior. We have also invested £5 million for the deployment of specialist staff to almost 80 jails with one clear mission – speeding up removals. These are all now in post.

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 victims get the support they need.

Lord Chancellor and 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.

These measures build on broader work during the Government’s first year in office to deliver on the British public’s priorities for border security and ramp up returns which has now seen 35,000 people with no right to be here returned since the election, including over 5,000 FNOs.

The changes will apply to prisoners serving fixed-term, or determinate, sentences and discretion to not use the measure on a case-by-case basis will be retained. For example, where there is clear evidence a prisoner is planning further crimes against UK interests such as posing a threat to national security they will not be released.

Foreign offenders make up around 12% percent of the total prison population with prison places costing £54,000 a year on average.

The measures will apply to all foreign national offenders already in custody as well as those newly sentenced, ensuring that taxpayers’ money will not be wasted on incarcerating foreign criminals in the future.

We are committed to further ramping up returns activity, including exploring returns hubs, introducing a ground-breaking new returns treaty with France which will see small boat arrivals detained and returned to France, and will set out major reforms to the asylum appeals system later this year, working with a range of countries to strengthen law enforcement, border security and returns.

Our Immigration White Paper will end the addiction to cheap overseas labour that saw net migration explode to nearly one million in recent years by replacing it with an immigration system that is controlled, selective and fair and boosting opportunities for homegrown talent. The White Paper also includes plans to introduce legislation that tightens the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and sets out reforms to make it easier to remove foreign criminals convicted of any offence before the threat they pose escalates.

The changes to enable the immediate deportation of foreign prisoners require primary legislation and will be brought before Parliament in due course.

Further information

• In May, the Independent Sentencing Review recommended the law change so most foreign prisoners could be deported after serving 30 percent of their prison time, rather than 50 percent, and up to four years before their release, rather than the current 18 months.
• The Government laid secondary legislation in June and this is expected to come into force in September, at which point prisoners with no right to be in the country will face deportation 30% into their prison part of their sentence rather than the current 50%.
• This will be reduced to 0% once the primary legislation this power requires is in force.