Priti Patel blasts Labour for defending murderers, rapists and drug dealers after they demanded she cancel flight deporting 28 convicted criminals to Jamaica

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Priti Patel has blasted Labour for defending murderers, rapists and drug dealers after opposition MPs demanded she cancel a flight deporting 28 convicted criminals to Jamaica.

A source close to the Home Secretary said Labour was putting foreign convicts 'who have no right to be in this country' first by opposing the deportation flight.

The rebuke comes after almost 70 MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell, called for tomorrow's flight to be postponed.

And more than 80 black British actors and celebrities – including Naomi Campbell and Naomie Harris – also tried to interfere by urging airlines not to take part. 

The identities of the 28 criminals being deported on tomorrow's flight have not yet been released.

The debate comes after it emerged that a Jamaican convict who won a battle to avoid deportation when he was released from prison was charged with murder less than eight months later.

Meanwhile the latest Home Office data reveals seven foreign criminals a day are being released from prison onto Britain's streets instead of being deported. 

A source close to the Home Secretary (pictured on Saturday) said the party is putting foreign criminals 'who have no right to be in this country' first

A letter signed by former leader Jeremy Corbyn (left, last month), ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell (right) and nearly 70 MPs called for tomorrow's plane to be postponed

A source in Ms Patel's department told the Times: 'It is foreign national offenders that the Labour Party want to put first. Killers. Rapists. Drug dealers.

'Convicted foreign criminals who have no right to be in this country.' 

Campaigners are trying to halt the deportation flight to Jamaica as they claim the Tories have not learned from the Windrush saga.

But the Government pointed out the flight includes 'dangerous foreign criminals' - including convicted rapists and murderers - and none are eligible for the Windrush scheme.

Conservative MPs called for more steps to be taken to ensure human rights lawyers cannot 'thwart' efforts to deport foreign criminals.

Immigration minister Chris Philp confirmed he intends to legislate next year to 'close' these 'problematic areas'.

Shadow immigration minister Holly Lynch said Labour had 'no faith' the Government 'has done its due diligence' in relation to those on the flight.

She claimed: 'Of course, we recognise that those who engage in violent and criminal acts must face justice, but we also hear that at least one person on that flight has a Windrush generation grandfather.'

The SNP's Dr Philippa Whitford added 'lessons have not been learned' from the Windrush scandal.

In response to Ms Lynch, Mr Philp said: 'Over 6,300 people have now been given citizenship quite rightly and 13,300 documents have been issued to those people who suffered terrible wrongs in the past.

'In terms of compensation, 226 people have now received claims totalling in excess of £2.1 million, with a great deal more to pay out.

'I can also confirm that all of these cases on the plane have been individually assessed and none of them are eligible for the Windrush compensation scheme.

'It is completely wrong to conflate the people who were victims of terrible injustice in the Windrush cases with these cases who are nothing to do with Windrush - have no Windrush entitlement at all and who have committed terrible criminal offences.'

The group of 57 criminals on the original passenger manifest were handed jail sentences totalling 228 years, plus a murderer who was handed a life sentence.

Offences committed by the group also included rape, child sex offences, manslaughter, gun and drug crimes, and GBH.

Border Agency officers help a man into a van during a multi-agency operation at the former Imperial Typewriters building on East Park Road in Leicester where several businesses were suspected of employing illegal workers

More than 80 black British actors and celebrities – such as Naomi Campbell and Naomie Harris – also signed letters to airlines urging them not to take part. Pictured: A protest against the deportations

A paedophile on the flight had sex with a girl under the age of 16 and another was guilty of 30 offences including robbery and racially aggravated assault.

It is understood most the offenders due to be on the flight came to Britain as adults, with a few who arrived as teenage minors. None was born in the UK.

The specially chartered flight is thought to have cost the taxpayer several hundred thousand pounds.

The Home Office reportedly struck a deal with Jamaica not to deport those who arrived in the UK as children on the flight.

The island's high commissioner Seth Ramocan said officials agreed the arrangement - for those who arrived in Britain under the age of 12 - after diplomatic discussions.

The Home Office has not confirmed this.

Conservative Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw) said: 'Is (Mr Philp) as concerned as I am by reports that activist lawyers are trying to thwart the Government's legal efforts to deport these criminals and to keep the British people safe?'

Mr Philp told MPs: 'We do find that there are last-minute claims made often immediately before removal or deportation, often 24 hours in advance - even though there has been plenty of opportunity previously - apparently with the expressed intention of frustrating the process.

'There is also opportunity for people to raise repeated claims, in sequence, sometimes over a period of many years, in a manner that would appear to me to be potentially vexatious.

'That is something I think the Government does need to act to sort out, (Mr Clarke-Smith) is right, and we do intend to legislate next year to close precisely the problematic areas that (Mr Clarke-Smith) rightly refers to.'

Fellow Conservative MP Philip Davies suggested there would be support for action to make it easier to deport foreign nationals who commit any offence.

He said: 'Can I say to (Chris Philp) that the overwhelming majority of my constituents will absolutely support what he's doing, but actually would want him to ignore the siren voices opposite and, actually, to make it easier to deport foreign nationals who commit offences, perhaps those who commit any offence at all, not just those who have to serve over a year in prison.'

Tory Ben Bradley asked Mr Philp to 'call out those celebrities who spent their weekends trying to use their public profiles to shame businesses into not helping remove murderers from the UK'.

A number of Home Office deportation flights have seen offenders block removal by lodging new human rights appeals or claiming they are victims of modern slavery.

In September a flight - which cost the taxpayer around £100,000 - took off with a lone failed asylum seeker aboard after lawyers for 29 other candidates lodged last minute appeals.

Ms Patel plans to streamline rules so grounds of appeal must be lodged at the beginning of a case, with new legislation due next year.

Figures show 2,552 foreign criminals have been freed into the community in the past 12 months after completing jail sentences.

A record 9,987 offenders are now living in the community, Home Office data revealed.

It is up more than 150 per cent on the number in 2012, when the total stood at less than 4,000.

More than 2,600 foreign criminals have been living in the community for more than five years after completing their jail terms and more than 3,400 have been on the streets for 12 months or more.

Lawyers for some of the criminals have already submitted successful last-minute legal challenges, and the Home Office expects more to block their removal by appealing.

Under current rules, any foreign criminal sentenced to more than 12 months in prison is liable for automatic deportation after finishing their sentence.

The number on the streets has surged because of Covid restrictions, with a record 846 freed between April and June.

Hundreds won their freedom after applying for bail under laws which say they can only be kept in immigration detention if there is a 'realistic prospect of imminent removal'.

Chris Philp, the immigration minister, confirmed the Government intends to legislate next year to 'close problematic areas' in response to concerns over activist lawyers holding up flights

Because international flights were grounded in the early stages of the pandemic, the criminals successfully argued that they should be freed.

Instead of staying locked up until they are thrown out, they are released to be 'managed in the community'. Many abscond, potentially putting the public in danger.

Reading terror attacker Khairi Saadallah, from Libya, was released from prison 16 days before the knife rampage that left three dead. He is due to be sentenced next week.

David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention think-tank, said: 'It is outrageous that thousands of convicted foreign national criminals have been able to exploit the pandemic to secure their release onto our streets.'

The Labour Party said: 'The Home Office under the Tories has an appalling history when it comes to the Windrush generation.'

It added: 'We must have certainty that the injustices of the past are not being repeated.'