UK Edition
Priti Patel pledges new laws to bar and deport foreign criminals who 'abuse UK's hospitality'
The Home Secretary is planning new legislation that will make it easier and faster to remove foreign criminals
Priti Patel has promised new laws to bar and remove foreign criminals from Britain, as she says anyone who “abuses our hospitality” will be deported.
The Home Secretary said she would “accelerate” legislation to crackdown on foreign offenders by making it easier and faster to remove them following the terror attack in Reading by a suspected Libyan asylum-seeker.
In a Commons statement on the knife attack in which three people died, she said: “The Government’s position is if you abuse our hospitality and commit crimes in the UK, we will do everything in our power to remove you.
“I am also clear that tougher action is needed to speed up removals and deter foreign criminals from entering the UK. It’s not always easy, there are barriers to overcome. That is something we will be looking at through other legislative means.”
Ms Patel promised “further and greater criminality checks at the border” with new laws to bar any foreign national seeking to live or work in the UK who has been jailed for more than a year.
New legislation will also make it easier to deport those convicted of minor offences. At present, only those guilty of offences over 12 months face automatic deportation, which excludes offences like assaulting a police officer with its maximum one year sentence.
The changes could lower the 12 month limit or allow officials to take action on a case by case basis. “The public would probably think that if you assault a police officer, you should be deported,” said a source.
A new bill is expected to propose automatic prison sentences for any deported foreign criminal who returns to the UK. Currently they only face six months or a £5,000 fine. About 400 to 500 return each year.
Another option is to place time limits on asylum claims to force asylum seekers to “put everything on the table in the first place” to prevent cases being “dragged out over years and years.”
The moves follow evidence that the number of serious offenders deported from the UK has dropped by 40 per cent in the last four years from 5,218 in 2015 to 3,225 last year.