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Government to announce crackdown on foreign criminals as part of hardline new measures included in Queen’s Speech

Getty
Getty

The government will promise a hardline new approach to crime and justice on Monday as ministers use the Queen’s Speech to announce a crackdown on foreign criminals.

Laws will be introduced to toughen up sentences for both violent criminals and foreign nationals who try to re-enter the UK after being deported, while the police will be given new powers to arrest non-British criminals.

Ahead of the speech, Priti Patel, the home secretary, claimed the UK had been “soft on foreign criminals for too long”.

But Labour accused the government of being “hypocritical” after years of cuts to policing budgets.

The new measures form part of a tough new approach to crime that includes recruiting 20,000 more police officers, increasing the use of tasers and lengthening sentences for sexual and violent crimes.

Ms Patel said: “We have been a soft touch on foreign criminals for too long. The sentence for breaching a deportation order is far too low at the moment and many criminals conclude that it’s worth trying to get back in the country when all you get is a slap on the wrist.

“Deterring foreign criminals from re-entering the country and putting those that do behind bars for longer will make our country safer.”

Under the plans, foreign national offenders who are deported but try to return to the UK will face much longer time in jail than the current six-month maximum. The government estimates that 40,000 people breach deportation orders each year, although it is not clear how many of them are criminals.

At the same time, a new law will give the police the power to arrest any suspect who is the subject of a Red Notice from Interpol. Currently, police must first apply for a warrant to carry out the arrest - a process which the government says typically takes at least six hours.

However, only suspects wanted by a small number of UK allies, including the US, Australia and Canada, will be apprehended. EU countries are not included in the bill because the UK will remain part of the European Arrest Warrant, which gives police similar power, after Brexit.

Under the government’s new proposals, violent criminals will face tougher penalties, with ministers abolishing the most serious offenders an automatic release clause that allows them to be released halfway through their prison term. Instead, they will have to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence.

Ministers will also reintroduce a bill to help victims of domestic abuse. The law, which was introduced in the last parliamentary session, includes a new definition of domestic abuse making clear that abuse can be financial, emotional or coercive, as well as physical. It will also ensure that courts assume by default that domestic abuse victims should qualify for special measures, such as giving evidence via video link rather than in person.

The so-called Helen’s Law, which will see murderers who refused to disclose information on their victims received longer sentences, will be one of the first bills introduced in the new parliamentary session, with draft legislation due to be tabled on Tuesday. It is named after Helen McCourt, who was murdered in 1988.

Responding to the government’s announcement, Labour’s Diane Abbott said: “It is hypocritical for the Tories to set out these plans when they were the ones who imposed cuts and let crime soar in the first place. Everything was cut, from schools to the NHS, to the police to mental health services. They all had terrible consequences.

“This Queen’s Speech is farcical. It is just an uncosted wish list which the government has no intention and no means to deliver, and nothing more than a pre-election party political broadcast.

“The Home Secretary is right that the Tories have been a soft touch for criminals, with policies that predictably led to more crime. We always argued that cuts have consequences, and now the Tories are trying to pretend the consequences have nothing to do with them. Labour in government will end austerity, and properly invest in our communities and transform society.”

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