The extraordinary cost of the UK government not deporting foreign criminals was laid bare by new statistics showing the taxpayer foots a £600 million-a-year bill to incarcerate migrants.
The UK government published new foreign criminal statistics on Thursday morning, showing there are 11,153 foreign nationals being held in custody in the country, 13 per cent of all inmates. According to the most recent census, this means foreign nationals are incarcerated at a higher rate per capita than the general population, given the account for around 10 per cent of people in the country.
Analysis of these figures by the TaxPayers’ Alliance put the price to the public of incarcerating foreign criminals at £600,042,553 a year. Albanian criminals are most represented in the foreign national prison population, the TPA found, estimating the cost to the taxpayer of keeping them inside to be £64,184,593 a year.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TPA, said of the findings that “It’s a national betrayal to demand that British taxpayers foot such a huge bill to provide bed and board to foreign criminals… Foreign offenders should be deported to their countries of origin, not left to leech off the wallets of law-abiding families.”
Defacto leader of the Conservative Party Robert Jenrick spoke to The Express and also called for deportations. He said: “Instead of releasing criminals early to free up prison space, the Government must deport every single one of these foreign offenders.
“They need to be kicked out of the country immediately. Starmer must suspend visas and aid until countries take back their nationals.”
Last week, Reform UK leader and Brexit supremo Nigel Farage spoke out on the issue of prison overcrowding and costs, and said under a Farage government the UK would cut costs by renting prison space in low-cost foreign countries, such as El Salvador.
As reported in March, polling shows deporting foreign criminals is overwhelmingly popular with British voters. 84 per cent said they were in favour, while Nigel Farage voters agreed at a rate of 99 per cent with the notion.
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