Tory MPs call for migrant nationality crime rates to be put into ‘league table’ in bid to toughen up visa restrictions

30 March 2024, 00:33 | Updated: 30 March 2024, 07:37

Ministers are set to consider a criminal ‘league tables’ devised to toughen up visa restrictions for certain nationalities.

Under the proposal, ministers would present a report to Parliament each year detailing the nationality, visa status and asylum status of every criminal convicted in English and Welsh courts over the last year.

The aim would be to enable the Home Office to tighten visa and deportation policies for migrant nationalities linked to higher rates of crime.

The proposal has been laid out in an amendment to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill.

More than a dozen Tory MPs have backed the proposal, which was put forward by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

Mr Jenrick said: “We cannot hope to fix our immigration system without understanding the problem. The national debate on legal and illegal migration is hindered by a lack of data on the fiscal, economic and societal impacts of migration.

“There is mounting concern that the UK is importing crime, particularly violent crime, sexual assaults and drug production. We need to have transparency so the public knows what’s happening and policy can be formulated accordingly.”

It is understood that while there have been no ideological objections to the proposal, the main point of concern within the Government is how it would be implemented on a practical level.

A government source told The Telegraph: “We will certainly look properly at this amendment and engage with colleagues in the usual way.”

Read more: 'Rebuild has to start from ground up,' Labour's Anneliese Dodds says, and 'local people must have skin in the game'

Read more: Record number of migrants cross English Channel in first three months of 2024

The proposal is similar to approaches already adopted by some US states and Denmark.

In Denmark, the crime rates of those from Kuwait, Tunisia, Lebanon and Somalia are notably higher than those of Danish nationals.

Tory MPs said to have backed the proposal include former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and the former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland.

Other Tory MPs include former ministers Andrea Jenkyns, Sir Simon Clarke, Neil O’Brien, Jonathan Djanogly, Sir Desmond Swayne, Sarah Dines, Sir James Duddridge, Heather Wheeler and Caroline Johnson.

It comes after Rishi Sunak continued to insist his plan to "stop the boats" was working even though crossings in 2024 were tracking ahead of recent years.

Earlier this week, provisional Home Office figures showed that 338 people arrived in seven boats on Tuesday, taking the total for the year to date to 4,644.

This exceeds the previous record-high figure of 4,548 for January to March 2022 and has already surpassed the 3,793 arrivals in the first quarter of last year.

The number of crossings recorded so far this year is 23% higher than the total at this point in 2023 (3,770) and 12% higher than the same time in 2022 (4,162), PA news agency analysis of government data shows.

Mr Jenrick also said of the proposal: “An open immigration system is creating serious problems in communities, but without data, we can’t have an informed debate.”

Previously, National Crime Agency bosses have warned that a “significant number” of Albanians who had entered the country illegally had been involved in organised criminal drug gangs.

Tory MPs who have backed the plan believe it could help the Home Office tighten visa screenings on those from countries linked to higher crime rates, as well as asylum applications.

They also say it would enable the Home Office to focus deportations and returns agreements on those countries.

Sir Robert said of the proposal and its likeness to Denmark’s approach: “The Danes think similarly to us. They were the ones looking at third-country processing agreements. I don’t think anyone can suggest they are not compliant with international laws yet they are rightly adopting a robust and fair approach.

“Anything that makes us more efficient in the way we process claims to sift out people whose presence would be a detriment to our country should be considered.”