STORY
Reform UK has proposed deporting foreign national offenders serving sentences in England and Wales as part of a plan it says would ease pressure on the prison system. Nigel Farage and the party’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf are setting out proposals to transfer foreign prisoners either to their home countries or, where that is not possible, to third countries including El Salvador and Kosovo.
There are just over 10,000 foreign nationals currently in custody in England and Wales, although nearly a third are being held on remand rather than serving a sentence following conviction. Reform officials have said the deportation plan would apply to foreign nationals once convicted. The party is also proposing around 12,000 temporary prison places through what it has described as ‘Nightingale prisons’, alongside measures intended to restore greater use of short custodial sentences.
Labour rejected the proposals and said the Government was already working to deport foreign criminals and expand prison capacity. The dispute comes as the Government reviews its own early release arrangements, which were introduced to prevent prisons reaching capacity. Reform says its proposals would create space to keep more offenders in custody, while questions remain over the legal, diplomatic and financial arrangements that would be required to hold prisoners in third countries.