Dozens of ‘dangerous’ foreign nationals are being allowed to keep living in the UK as the Home Office cannot deport them due to human rights laws.
Some 170 people who pose a threat to public safety are currently being housed under restrictions across the country, government documents show.
And more than half of these individuals are reported to ‘have been involved in terrorism or extremism-related activities’.
It is understood that some of the restrictions imposed on the foreign nationals may include 24-hour surveillance and wearing an ankle monitor.
However, it is not clear exactly what measures are in force and on how many of the security threats who cannot be booted out.
Currently failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals are avoiding being deported back to their home countries after claiming a right to family life.
This right is set out under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, of which the UK remains a member.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has promised an overhaul of human rights laws and tighter controls on immigration.
People thought to be migrants board a small boat in Gravelines, France (file photo)
However, there are calls for Labour to go further following the latest revelations that were published in a Government Equality Impact Assessment on the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
The document reads: ‘Provisions for imposing conditions on immigration leave where a foreign national poses a threat to the public but cannot be removed from the UK may be more likely to affect certain age groups.
‘The conditions provided for by the measures will only be used in a very low number of cases involving conduct such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, extremism, serious crime or where the person poses a threat to national security or public safety.
‘At the time of this EIA, around 170 people are currently on restricted leave, with over half having been involved in terrorism or extremism related activities.’
A Home Office minister told the Sunday Express that it was ‘disgraceful’ that dangerous foreign nationals have been allowed to stay in the UK.
Border Security and Asylum minister Alex Norris said: ‘It is disgraceful that terrorists have been able to stay in the UK under previous rules. Our new laws will place strict restrictions on foreign nationals who pose a threat, tracking their every move.
‘These laws will also enable us to get terrorists rapidly deported from British soil and keep our country safe.’
But the revelations have reignited calls for human rights laws to be overhauled and for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: ‘Our broken borders are a national security emergency. We have to leave the ECHR and deport every single one of these terrorists and extremists.
‘This government is clueless as to how bad the problem is and how to fix it.’
Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added that the Labour government is ‘filled to the brim with woke human rights lawyers’.
He said Sir Keir Starmer’s administration is ‘prioritising’ a court in Strasbourg over the British people.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said the Labour government is ‘filled to the brim with woke human rights lawyers’
It comes after it emerged this week that ministers don’t know how many illegal migrants are in Britain or the number using human rights law to avoid deportation.
The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory flagged 10 major areas where information is lacking, including immigration enforcement and returns, and the size of the population living in the UK without papers.
The research also raised how it is difficult to understand how many immigration cases are affected by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which the Conservatives and Reform UK have vowed to leave.
Experts found there is little data to know who and how many people apply for and are granted permission to stay in the UK through the convention, or successfully appeal against their removal.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory, said: ‘The UK’s membership of ECHR is a major issue in public debate, in large part due to its impacts on migration policy.
‘But the current data can’t give us a clear picture of where and when it has most impact. This makes it harder for the public or policymakers to make an informed choice about an important decision with long-term repercussions for the UK.’
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, accused Labour of ‘hiding the very data the public need to understand what is happening to our borders’.
He said ministers were ‘refusing to publish key enforcement data and they avoid saying how many cases are affected by human rights law’ claiming that ministers were ‘keeping the country in the dark because the truth would expose how weak and incompetent their approach really is’.
The research comes as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a series of reforms that aim to cut the number of people coming to the country.
As part of the asylum proposals, ministers will seek to bring in legislation to prevent human rights laws being used to frustrate deportations and make it easier to remove people.
Elsewhere, the Government will also make refugee status temporary, and refugees will have to wait 20 years before being eligible to apply for permanent settlement, instead of five years currently.
Asylum seekers whose claims are denied will be limited to make one appeal against their removal, instead of having the ability to make multiple challenges on different grounds.
