Priti Patel signs deal to send ‘foreign criminals’ back to Pakistan

Priti Patel has signed a deal to send “foreign criminals and immigration offenders” from the UK back to Pakistan.

The Home Secretary met with Pakistan’s interior secretary, Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, and high commissioner to the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, to sign the reciprocal agreement on Wednesday.

Ms Patel said: “I make no apology for removing dangerous foreign criminals and immigration offenders who have no right to remain in the UK.

“The British public have quite rightly had enough of people abusing our laws and gaming the system so we can’t remove them.

“This agreement, which I am proud to have signed with our Pakistani friends, shows the New Plan for Immigration in action and the Government delivering.

“Our new Borders Act will go further and help end the cycle of last-minute claims and appeals that can delay removals.”

According to official data, Pakistan has the seventh largest number of foreign criminals in English and Welsh prisons, totalling nearly 3% of the foreign offender population.

Between January 2019 and December 2021, the UK deported 10,741 foreign offenders.

Ms Patel has signed similar deals with Albania and India, as well as Serbia and Nigeria, over the last 15 months.