In a move hailed as a major shift in transparency, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to announce on Tuesday that, for the first time, the Government will publish the nationalities and crimes of foreign criminals residing in the UK. The data is set to be released before the end of the year and will include individuals currently awaiting deportation.
The decision has sparked political contention, with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accusing Labour of caving to Conservative pressure. “This is yet another example of Labour buckling under pressure,” he said. “They’ve refused to be transparent for months, and now, under scrutiny, they’ve done a complete U-turn.”
Government sources, however, maintain that the initiative is a Labour-led reform, made possible only after Home Office statisticians were directed to revamp outdated systems that previously could not accurately report on the cohort of foreign offenders.
A Home Office insider said, “Not only are we now removing foreign criminals at a rate never seen when Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick were in office, but we are also going much further in keeping the public informed about who these individuals are and what offences they’ve committed. The Conservatives had years to do this and didn’t.”
According to the latest figures, 19,244 foreign national offenders were awaiting deportation at the end of 2024. That’s an increase from 17,907 when the Conservatives left office in July, and a sharp rise from 14,640 recorded at the end of 2022.
Despite this uptick, the Government has deported 3,594 offenders in the first nine months since Labour took office — a 16% rise compared to the same period in the previous year. But challenges remain. Prison overcrowding has resulted in some early releases, while diplomatic difficulties with certain countries and a mounting backlog of human rights appeals have contributed to the growing number of offenders still in the UK.
The move to publish more detailed data is part of a wider strategy to improve transparency and regain public confidence in the immigration and criminal justice systems. A Home Office spokesperson said: “Any foreign national who abuses our country’s hospitality and commits serious crimes should be in no doubt — they will face the full force of the law and will be removed from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.
“But we also believe the public deserves clear and comprehensive information. That is why ministers have instructed officials to begin producing data that shows the nationality, crimes, and deportation status of these offenders, with the aim of regular publication going forward.”
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Under current law, any foreign national sentenced to 12 months or more in prison is subject to automatic deportation. However, the Home Secretary retains discretionary powers to deport individuals serving shorter sentences if their presence is deemed not conducive to the public good.
The announcement has received a mixed response from opposition figures. While Mr Philp criticised the Government’s motives, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick welcomed the change. “We will finally see the hard reality that mass migration is fuelling crime across our country,” he said. “Frankly, the public deserved to know this long ago.”
Jenrick also expressed frustration at what he described as years of inaction: “For too long, transparency around this issue has been sacrificed for political convenience. This announcement is a step in the right direction, but it should have happened much earlier.”
The forthcoming data release is expected to prompt further debate around the UK’s approach to immigration enforcement, deportation policy, and the balance between public safety and human rights obligations. Ministers hope that publishing the nationalities of foreign offenders will not only reassure the public but also help tackle systemic inefficiencies in the deportation process.
