Shabana Mahmood vows to send foreign criminals ‘packing' when they are jailed
The changes would apply to prisoners serving fixed-term 'determinate' sentences, and authorities would retain their power not to deport a criminal but instead keep them in custody, for example, if the offender was planning further crimes against the UK's interests or national security.
'Our message is clear,' Ms Mahmood said.
'If you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing.'
Prisoners face deportation 30% into their prison sentence rather than the current 50% under a change in the law set to come in in September (PA)
She also said: 'Deportations are up under this Government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before.'
Almost 5,200 foreign national offenders have been deported since July 2024, a 14% increase on the 12 months prior, according to the Government.
The Justice Secretary's announcement follows a tweak in the law in June, expected to come into force in September, so prisoners face deportation 30% into their prison sentence rather than the current 50%.
The Government will need Parliament to greenlight its proposal to bring this down to 0%.
According to a Labour source, the previous Conservative government relied on prison transfer agreements with other countries to deport foreign national offenders, in deals which allow inmates to serve their custodial sentence in their 'home' country.
This saw 945 prisoners sent to jails abroad between 2010 and 2023, equal to less than one-and-a-half criminals per week.
Foreign national offenders make up around 12% of the prison population.
Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: 'In Starmer's topsy turvy world investors are fleeing the country in their droves while record numbers of violent and sexual offenders from abroad are put up in our prisons. It's a farce.
'Yet again Starmer has refused to confront our broken human rights laws.
'He needs to grow a backbone and change them so we can actually deport these individuals.
'The safety of the British public is infinitely more important than the 'rights' of sick foreign criminals.
'If countries won't take back their nationals, Starmer should suspend visas and foreign aid. His soft-touch approach isn't working.'
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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Nicola Sturgeon's 10 biggest bombshell moments in full from new memoir
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The ex-SNP leader said Queen Elizabeth immediately asked for details about the sexual harassment claims against Alex Salmond after they emerged in 2018. 12 She claimed the Queen wanted gossip on Alex Salmond Credit: PA:Press Association Ms Sturgeon said the Queen 'loved a bit of gossip' and asked about the case at an audience at Balmoral Castle in 2018 which she visited with husband Peter Murrell. And she wrote: 'She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down. She wasn't being trivial in any way, she wanted to know more of what was going on. 'I think she was also trying to put me at ease.' She also told how at Balmoral, Prince Philip would cook her and hubby Peter Murrell barbecues, with the Queen packing leftovers into Tupperware. Sean Connery NICOLA Sturgeon wrote that she was trained to speak with more 'authority' by Sir Sean Connery. The late James Bond actor gave the ex-Nats leader voice coaching in 2004 around the time she was elected deputy leader of the SNP. She wrote how the pair met at the glitzy New Club in Edinburgh where he advised her to deepen her speaking voice. Nicola Sturgeon admits mistake on gender ID battle in bombshell TV interview She said: 'There I was, under the instruction of 007 himself, pacing up and down the library of the New Club, with a folded piece of paper between my teeth, repeating sentences chosen, it seemed, for their particular combination of syllables, consonants and vowels.' 'My voice slowed and deepened. 'The trick, in future, he told me, was that whenever I wanted to project authority I had to speak as if I had a piece of paper between my teeth.' 12 She said Sean Connery trained her to speak with more authority Credit: Getty Prince William THE future King finds himself on the receiving end in Ms Sturgeon's memoirs. 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First Minister John Swinney ditched Sturgeon's 'presumption against new exploration' shortly after taking office last year and backed new fields that meet 'climate compatibility and energy security' criteria. In April, he said: 'There is no hostility in this Government to oil and gas. 'We are committed to a rational transition to net zero that enables us to fulfil our climate objectives. We will have to rely on elements of oil and gas for some time to come.' The Lockerbie Bomber THE release of the Lockerbie bomber could have spelled the end of Nicola Sturgeon's career and the fledgling SNP government, the former first minister revealed. Ms Sturgeon claimed she was not involved in the controversial decision to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in 2009 and only learned about it from BBC's Newsnight. 12 Ms Sturgeon claimed she was not involved in the controversial decision to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Credit: PA And she said Alex Salmond washed his hands of it too despite being obsessed with Scotland's image on the world stage – and left the decision to then Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. Ms Sturgeon recalls bereaved constituents who lost loved ones in the attack informing her that they would see the release of Megrahi a 'betrayal of their loved ones' memories' and she says she did not support his release or transfer. She said: 'The opposition could have united to bring us down, but they didn't. I could have resigned, given my deep misgivings, and I did consider it. But I opted instead to accept collective responsibility.' Indy promise SCOTTISH nationalists' insistence that the 2014 referendum would be 'once in a generation' was 'a warning not a promise', Nicola Sturgeon has claimed. The former SNP leader, who was in charge of referendum strategy during the campaign, said repeatedly that an independence referendum was a 'once in a lifetime' event. 12 She claims she wrote much of Scotland's Future, the independence white paper, single-handedly Credit: Alamy Ms Sturgeon said she wrote much of Scotland's Future, the independence white paper, single-handedly with little help from Alex Salmond. "The opening paragraph said the referendum was a 'once in a generation opportunity to follow a different path'. In her book, she admitted these comments 'came back to haunt her' when she pushed for a second referendum just three years later. She said: 'Our opponents claimed it meant that I was going back on my word. In their shoes I might have done the same, but it was a gross misrepresentation. 'Once in a lifetime / generation' was a warning, not a promise. I hadn't said I would never argue for another referendum.' School bullies BULLIES beat up Ms Sturgeon at primary school where she was targeted for being a bookworm, she says. Ms Sturgeon writes that she was 'occasionally bullied' and 'always felt different' and she 'worried that people would think spending hours with my head in a book was a bit weird'. She said there were some girls with 'dominant personalities' in her class who ended up 'battering' her on two occasions after school in Dreghorn, Ayrshire. 12 Ms Sturgeon told how she was beat up in primary school Credit: Getty She wrote: 'They followed me down Dreghorn Main Street, taunting me all the way with what was about to happen and then, just before I was due to turn into my street, one of the girls, who was tall, heavyset, and who weighed much more than me, jumped on my back and pummelled me with kicks and punches. 'The first time it happened, I kept it from my mum and dad, but the second time, one of my other classmates ran to get them. 'My parents then complained to the school and the girl got into trouble. Even though I wanted the bullying to stop, I remember being mortified that my mum and dad had got involved.' Ms Sturgeon said that as a result, she's now 'instinctively drawn to anyone who might be struggling to fit in'. 'Gnasher' jibe A MALE MSP who repeatedly called Nicola Sturgeon 'Gnasher' will remain anonymous as he would 'enjoy the notoriety', the former First Minister said. Ms Sturgeon said she was 'subjected to some nasty bullying' in the early years of the Scottish Parliament by a male MSP of another party who called her the name to others and even to her face. 12 An MSP in Holyrood referred to Ms Sturgeon as "Gnasher" Credit: PA:Press Association She said: 'At first I didn't understand it.' But she said that eventually, she 'discovered that it was a reference to a story being spread around that I had once injured a boyfriend' during an intimate moment. Ms Sturgeon said she 'cried in the toilets in the Parliament' when she heard the story but his behaviour escalated. She wrote: 'I can still visualise the gleeful sneer on his face. He seemed to revel in my discomfort and I became quite scared of him.' Ms Sturgeon said in an interview yesterday that she would not name the MSP as 'he would enjoy the notoriety'. Her 'destiny' THE ex-First Minister claimed she realised as a child it was her'destiny' not to be 'ordinary' in life. She wrote: 'From as far back as I can recall, I didn't just have an ambition to go to university but, rather, a certainty I would do so. 12 She claimed she realised as a child it was her'destiny' not to be 'ordinary' in life. Credit: PA:Press Association 'No one else in the history of my family had ever studied for a degree, so it is hard to know where that came from. In fact, back then I was a walking contradiction. 'Alongside shyness, a crippling lack of confidence and fear of failure, was a burning ambition, a drive to succeed, a craving to be 'seen'. 'I had - at risk of sounding daft a very strong sense of 'destiny'; a feeling that whatever I did would not be 'ordinary', that it would attract attention." The future THE United Kingdom will completely dissolve in less than 20 years and the monarchy will be gone within a century, Nicola Sturgeon claimed. Writing at the end of her autobiography, she said: 'I predict that in 20 years, perhaps sooner, the UK in its current form will no longer exist. What will emerge in its place will be stronger, healthier and more democratic. 12 She reckons the UK will be dissolved in 20 years Credit: Alamy 'An independent Scotland, a more autonomous Wales and reunified Ireland will join England, enjoying the benefits of the home rule it will gain as a result, in a new British Isles confederation of nations.' She added the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 was 'the beginning of the end' of the British Royal Family. And yesterday, she said in an interview: 'I'm not saying it will be ten, it could be 100 years. 'But…over time perhaps the absurdities of monarchy will start to come to the fore much more without the personality of the Queen to keep it going.'
South Wales Argus
an hour ago
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Western Telegraph
an hour ago
- Western Telegraph
Starmer to co-chair Ukraine meeting after call with Trump and European leaders
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