The British Government is set to publish official league tables identifying the nationalities of migrants with the highest recorded rates of crime in the United Kingdom.
The data, which will be released before the end of 2025, is intended to provide a detailed breakdown of offences committed by foreign nationals living in the UK while subject to deportation proceedings.
The move follows a directive from Yvette Cooper, the UK Home Secretary, who has instructed Home Office officials to compile the information, despite previous internal resistance on the grounds of data complexity. The tables will cover crimes including violence, robbery, theft and drug-related offences.
This is the first time such data will be published officially in the UK. Previously, breakdowns by nationality were only available through freedom of information requests submitted by campaign groups and media organisations, including The Telegraph.
The decision comes in the context of next month’s local elections in the UK and is widely viewed as a response to calls from Conservative Party figures and the Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, who have pressed for greater transparency on the issue of migrant crime. It is also seen as part of Labour’s effort to reinforce its position in traditional strongholds where immigration has become a contentious issue.
A Labour source commented that the data release would demonstrate the current government’s record on removals, stating: “Not only are we deporting foreign criminals at a rate never seen when Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick were in charge at the Home Office, but we will also be publishing far more information about that cohort of offenders than the Tories ever did.”
Mr Jenrick, a former Conservative minister who had campaigned for the release of such data, welcomed the move. “Following over a year of pressure from campaigners, including my own attempt to change the law, it appears that there’s been a breakthrough,” he said. “The British public deserve the truth about migrant crime and the costs of low-skilled immigration.”
The model follows approaches used in several other countries, including Denmark and some US states, where crime statistics are disaggregated by migrant status. In Denmark, official figures have shown that in many cases, migrant crime rates exceed those of Danish nationals.
According to sources within the UK Home Office, the data could also strengthen diplomatic negotiations with countries whose nationals are among the most frequently convicted, and assist in replicating the fast-track deportation and prisoner transfer agreements currently in place with Albania. Police forces are also expected to use the data to support operations against organised crime groups, such as those involved in the cultivation of illegal cannabis farms.
The data will focus specifically on foreign nationals living in the community while awaiting deportation. As of the end of 2024, the UK Home Office recorded 19,244 such individuals. This marks a significant increase from previous years: revised figures show 14,640 at the end of 2022 and 17,907 by the time of the 2024 general election.
Labour officials have argued that the increase is partly attributable to early releases from prison to address overcrowding, as well as legal appeals and diplomatic challenges related to the return of individuals to their countries of origin.
A previous analysis of data obtained by The Telegraph covering the period from 2021 to 2023 indicated that Romanian nationals were involved in the highest total number of recorded offences, at 15,701. However, Albanians had the highest crime rate per capita, at 4,028 offences per 10,000 members of their census population in England and Wales—around 30 times the rate of British nationals. Polish nationals were also among the most frequently represented groups.
In terms of imprisonment rates, Ministry of Justice statistics show that some foreign nationalities have significantly higher per capita prison populations in the UK. These figures are based on nationality rather than place of birth, and the census data includes individuals who may be foreign-born but hold UK passports.
Since Labour returned to power, 3,594 foreign criminals have been deported from the UK, according to the Home Office—a 16 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier. Under the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill, the UK Government plans to impose additional measures on foreign nationals awaiting deportation, including electronic tagging, night-time curfews, and exclusion zones.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Any foreign national who abuses our country’s hospitality and commits serious crimes should be in no doubt that they will face the full force of the law and be removed from the UK at the earliest opportunity.
“But we also want to ensure the public is kept better informed about the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation, where they are from, and the crimes they have committed. That is why—for the first time—ministers have tasked officials specifically with producing a greater range of data on this category of offenders, and ensuring that data is published in future in an open and transparent way.”
Under existing UK law, any foreign national sentenced to 12 months or more in prison is subject to automatic deportation. The Home Secretary also retains discretionary powers to remove individuals with shorter sentences if their continued presence in the UK is deemed not conducive to the public good.
