A new poll finds that half of British voters believe the government is deliberately withholding information on offenses committed by foreign-born convicts. The survey, carried out by Find Out Now for the Centre for Migration Control, shows 50 percent of respondents hold this view, against 20 percent who do not. Belief in a cover-up reaches 74 percent among Conservative voters and 88 percent among Reform UK supporters.
Seven in ten Britons also say foreign-born criminals should be deported, a position shared by 60 percent of those who voted Labour in 2024.
Foreign Criminals in the Community.
The Home Office has stated that 21,294 convicted foreign nationals facing removal are currently living in communities across Britain. Separate analysis indicates that offenders from Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria and Bangladesh are substantially less likely to be removed than those from other countries. Freedom of Information figures show 773 Nigerian offenders were awaiting deportation in June 2025, of whom only 37 were returned in the preceding twelve months.
The release of these numbers followed reports that the European Union is pressing for fewer deportations of EU criminals as part of a deal on reducing non-tariff trade barriers. Albania, which is not in the EU, accounts for the largest foreign-born prison population in England and Wales, but EU members Poland, Romania and Lithuania are also prominent.
Court Challenge Over Data Release.
The Ministry of Justice is appealing an Information Commissioner ruling that ordered the release of data on foreign offending in England and Wales between 2018 and 2024. The Centre for Migration Control, which requested the figures, was initially told the cost would be disproportionate and that publication risked identifying individuals. Both objections were rejected by the Commissioner.
Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, said the public has lost confidence in the government’s capacity to secure borders and protect safety. He stated that the large majority of the country wants every foreign criminal removed, yet Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s so-called EU reset risks making deportations harder. Bates called for the Ministry of Justice to publish the migrant crime data in full.
It reportedly took a year to extract the currently available figures on foreign criminals living in British communities from the Home Office. The figures suggest very few foreign criminals are removed to countries outside Europe, with just five percent of Nigerian serious criminals in the community deported last year and three percent of Jamaicans. Many of those remaining in Britain have gone on to commit further serious offenses, including murder and rape, after using human rights, asylum, and modern slavery claims to thwart their removal from Britain.
