Number of foreign criminals released from jail to walk Britain's streets hits record high under Labour

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 23:07, 28 June 2026 | Updated: 23:09, 28 June 2026 The number of foreign criminals released from jail to walk Britain’s streets has reached a record high under Labour. Official figures show there were 19,779 foreign national offenders at the end of March who had been released from prison but not deported. It was up by nearly 1,200 in a year, and by nearly 2,200 since Labour came to power in July 2024, when the total stood at 17,597. It means three foreign criminals a day, on average, were freed to live in the community over the 12 months to March. The total number of foreign offenders living freely in Britain has rocketed by more than 400 per cent since 2012, when the number stood at less than 4,000. Foreign criminals should be transferred to immigration detention at the end of their jail terms, ready to be deported. But they can only be held if there is a 'realistic prospect of imminent removal'. Many lodge late asylum claims or allegations of trafficking – which are often spurious, according to Home Office sources - in a bid to delay or prevent deportation. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced a scheme when she was in charge of the Ministry of Justice which has seen 60,000 criminals freed early from jail so far Official figures released in May showed there were 5,858 foreign criminals deported from Britain in the year to March, a rise of 13 per cent. However, despite that increase the number of foreign offenders living in the community continues to rocket. It is unclear why the Home Office deportations are failing to keep pace with foreign criminals being freed. But it may be due to the surge in the number of prisoners being released under Labour’s ‘get out of jail early scheme’. Under the Labour Government the Ministry of Justice has now let out more than 60,000 criminals from jail early, after they served just 40 per cent of the sentences handed down by the courts. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced the early release scheme in autumn 2024 when she was Justice Secretary to create space in the overcrowded jails. Other controversial moves by Labour include an announcement that it will look at raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10. Justice Secretary David Lammy said the Government will consider increasing the minimum age for prosecution in England and Wales. It raises the possibility of police no longer being able to charge older children – possibly up to the age of 12 or 14 – with a crime. Mr Lammy said he will consider whether the current law ‘reflects modern understanding of childhood, vulnerability and development in today’s society’. A report by the Bar Council, published on Sunday, recommended increasing the minimum age to 14. Any change to the law risks being seen as allowing tearaways to run rampant with no fear of prosecution. It was branded a ‘dangerous move’ by Denise Fergus, the mother of James Bulger, two, who was abducted from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, and murdered by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both then aged 10, in 1993. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘These foreign criminals all need to be deported. ‘They often go on to commit more crimes, including murder and rape. ‘Yet these criminals use asylum, modern slavery and human rights claims to remain in the UK. ‘Nationalities like Jamaica and Pakistan see hardly any criminals deported at all. ‘That’s why we need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and legislate that asylum and modern slavery claims cannot prevent the deportation of criminals and illegal immigrants. ‘Then every single one of these criminals can be deported. But Labour is too weak to do that.’ Last month the Home Office noted that in latest immigration data, deportations of all types, including criminals, were up to 67,000 since they came into power, up 41 per cent. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.