Three foreign criminals a day were freely walking Britain’s streets over a 12-month period, shocking new figures have revealed. The number of offenders – those who were released from prison but not deported – has reached a record high under Labour.

Official figures reveal there were 19,779 foreign national offenders at the end of March – up 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. This figure is also more than 400% higher than in 2012, when the number was fewer than 4,000. Under UK law, foreign criminals who received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more should be transferred to immigration detention at the end of their jail terms, ready to be deported. However, 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.

According to official figures released in May, 5,858 foreign criminals were deported from Britain in the year to March – a 13% rise. However, despite that increase, the number of those living in UK communities continues to increase.

It remains unclear why the Home Office deportations are failing to keep pace with the release of foreign criminals, the Daily Mail reported. However, it has been suggested that it could be due to the surge in the number of prisoners being released under Labour’s early release scheme.

Introduced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in the autumn of 2024, the Ministry of Justice has now released more than 60,000 criminals from jail early, after they served only 40% of the sentences imposed by the courts. Ms Mahmood launched the scheme when she was Justice Secretary to relieve pressure on overcrowded jails.

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.”

It comes after the Home Office noted last month, in its latest immigration data, that deportations of all types, including criminals, had risen to 67,000 since it came into power, up 41%.