Starmer under pressure to reveal migrant crime numbers

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19 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer will come under pressure next week to reveal the 'hidden' scale of migrant crime.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, is to propose a law change that would force the Government to publish the data identifying the migrant nationalities with the highest crime rates.
He is laying an amendment to Labour's Crime and Policing Bill that would require ministers to publish every quarter the nationality, country of birth, visa route, asylum status and method of entry of everyone convicted and sentenced to crimes in the Crown Court and magistrates court.
Mr Jenrick plans to force it to a vote of MPs on the floor of the Commons and said that, if passed, it would end the 'shameful cover-up' by state authorities which has prevented the public from being told the scale of crime committed by foreign nationals.
It would mirror an approach by some US states and Denmark, where league tables compiled from the government data show the crime rates of the top four nations – Kuwait, Tunisia, Lebanon and Somalia – are eight times those of Danish nationals.
The Telegraph has previously published data on migrant crime rates but only as a result of the figures being released by Government departments under freedom of information laws.
That research suggested that foreign nationals were convicted of up to a quarter of sex crimes despite census data showing that they made up just 9.3 per cent of the population.
Mr Jenrick said: 'We need to know the truth about who is committing crime in our country so we can protect the British public.
'Right now we are importing a crime wave. Data that has been dragged out of the authorities shows migrants from some countries are enormously more likely to commit violent and sexual offences.
'Indicative statistics suggest Albanians are 153 times more likely to be convicted of drug offences, while Eritreans are 20 times more likely to commit a sexual offence. We need the full, unvarnished truth.
'Keir Starmer has a choice. Will he release the data about migrant crime, as countries like Denmark do, and act on it? Or will he instigate yet another shameful cover-up?'
Credit: Robert Jenrick
Labour has proposed its own league tables of migrant crime rates based on the nationalities and foreign criminals living in communities while awaiting deportation.
Albanians, Romanians and Poles are expected to be among the top nationalities for crimes including violence, robbery, theft and drug production and dealing.
It is understood Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, overruled Home Office officials who have previously claimed it is too difficult to provide quality data on foreign criminals. She has told them she wants it published by the end of the year.
Her immigration white paper also proposed that the Home Office should be informed of all crimes committed by foreign nationals in the UK as part of a deportation crackdown.
At present, foreign criminals are only reported to the Home Office if they receive a jail sentence. A year behind bars is the automatic threshold for deportation from the UK, although those with prison terms under one year can still be considered for removal.
It is thought unlikely, however, that Labour will back Mr Jenrick's proposal although it is likely to be backed by Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
Data previously published by The Telegraph and obtained through FOI legislation by the Centre for Migration control revealed that foreign nationals accounted for between one in eight (12.5 per cent) and as many as one in six (16.4 per cent) of all convictions in England and Wales.
According to the new data, 872,488 convictions were recorded on the police national computer between 2021 and 2023, of which 833,522 had identifiable nationality information.
Foreign nationals accounted for 104,000, but there were a further 38,966 where the nationality was 'unknown'.
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