Keir Starmer urged not to ‘cover it up’ as bombshell new migrant crime figures released.uk
Afghans and Eritreans are 20 times more likely to be convicted of sex offences, while Albanians are 153 times more likely to be convicted of drug offences.
Keir Starmer is being urged to publish migrant crime data (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer must choose between publishing migrant crime data or instigating “yet another shameful cover up”, Robert Jenrick has declared.
The Shadow Justice Secretary warned Afghans and Eritreans are 20 times more likely to be convicted of sex offences, while Albanians are 153 times more likely to be convicted of drug offences.
Mr Jenrick declared “we need to know the truth about who is committing crime in our country”.
The senior Conservative called for data to be published every three months breaking down the nationality and immigration status of offenders.
Robert Jenrick is demanding answers on migrant crime (Image: PA)
Mr Jenrick declared: “Indicative data shows Albanians are 153x more likely to be convicted of a drug offence than Brits.
“And that Eritreans are 20x more likely to be convicted of sex offences.
“I am proposing a law change to force the release of the full facts about migrant crime and end the cover up.”
Research by the Centre for Migration Control revealed there were 104,000 foreign national convictions between 2021 and 2023.
The think-tank said there were 87 nationalities with a higher conviction rate for sexual offences than the British population. In 2024, these nationalities were awarded 557,041 long-term visas by the Home Office.
The data, drawn from the police national computer, shows that foreign nationals were concited of 2,500 of the 16,771 sexual offences – where a nationality was known – between 2021 and 2023.
The rates, based on convictions per 10,000 of the population put Afghans, with 77 convictions, at the top with a rate of 59 per 10,000 – 22.3 times that of Britons.
They were followed by Eritreans, who accounted for 59 convictions at a rate of 53.6 per 10,000 of their population.
Outlining his plan in more detail, Mr Jenrick said: “We need to know the truth about who is committing crime in our country.
“Indicative data suggests that Afghans and Eritreans are 20 times more likely to be convicted of a sexual offence than a British citizen, that Congolese nationals are almost 12 times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime.
“And at the same time, German, American and Indian nationals are less likely to be sent to jail.
“But look, the data that we have doesn’t paint the full picture. And even that had to be dragged out of the authorities kicking and screaming.
“I’ve tabled an amendment to force the Government to publish migrant crime data to release every three months a breakdown of guilty offenders by country of birth, nationality, mode of entry to the UK, as well as visa and asylum status.
“Keir Starmer has got a choice – release the migrant crime data, as countries like Denmark do, and act upon it to keep the British public safe or instigate yet another shameful cover up.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered officials to publish the data, including crimes that have been committed, by the end of the year.
Home Office sources have blamed the increase in foreign criminals awaiting deportation on early releases due to prison overcrowding, instability in some countries making deportations difficult, and a litany of appeals against deportation on human rights grounds.
Ministers will also, later this year, bring forward new legislation to “clarify Article 8 rules and set out how they apply in different immigration routes so that fewer cases are treated as ‘exceptional’.
The “public interest test” will be strengthened to “make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control our borders”.
And migrants trying to “get round the rules”, for example by using Article 8 to apply to stay after travelling to the UK on a short-term visa, will likely lose their cases, under the new rules.
