800 thieves and 600 sexual offenders removed from UK, says Home Office
The Home Office identified Albanian, Romanian, Polish and Lithuanian as the leading nationalities represented in the statistics
Eight hundred thieves and 600 sexual offenders have been removed from the UK in the past year, according to the Home Office.
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The figures also showed nearly 100 murderers, 600 violent criminals, 200 fraudsters and 2,300 drugs offenders were removed in the past year.
The Home Office identified Albanian, Romanian, Polish and Lithuanian as the leading nationalities represented in the statistics.
Border security minister Alex Norris said: “We welcome those who come to this country, contribute to society and seek a better life.
“But if you break our laws, our message is clear – there is no place for you here.
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“These figures show we are delivering on our promise to remove those who threaten public safety and break our laws.
“The British public rightly expects that anyone who commits serious crimes to face the consequences and that includes being removed from this country at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Mr Norris added the Government was “introducing landmark legislation to help address the scale of illegal arrivals and remove those with no right to be here”.
This month’s King’s Speech, which marked the start of a new parliamentary session, included plans for an Immigration and Asylum Bill.
As part of the proposed new law, the Government is expected to set up a new independent immigration and asylum appeals mechanism, as well as changing the way article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights – regarding respect for private and family life – is applied.