‘Keir Starmer’s Weaponisation of Foreign National Crime Statistics Risks Stoking Violence and Empowering the Far Right’

Earlier this week, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that the Government will, for the first time, publish detailed data on foreign national offenders and the crimes they’ve committed.

Framed as a bid to “better inform the public”, this move is in reality nothing short of a cynical political stunt – one designed to placate the rising wave of the radical right, led by Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

In making this data public, the Government is weaponising immigration through crime statistics. We know that this risks increasing racial discrimination and deepening the effects of the Hostile Environment for migrant communities. 

In the wake of the August 2024 riots, it became painfully clear that racial tensions and the strength of the far-right had reached a dangerous peak. Any political party in power would have to think carefully about containing the threat of the radical right, and there is no arguing that Labour needs a bold strategy.  However, Labour have chosen time and time again to appease the far-right by giving ammunition to their concerns about immigration.

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Labour’s latest focus on Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is not new. It follows a well-worn path taken by successive governments, one that isolates migrant communities and conflates migration with criminality. The Conservative Party spent years leaning into anti-migrant rhetoric and criminalising migrants through the Hostile Environment, in a blatant attempt to distract from their own failures on the economy, the degradation of public services and an increasing housing crisis. It is harmful and it doesn’t work. Its lasting legacy has been helping to create the conditions for the far right to thrive.

This then begs the question – what problem is Labour trying to resolve by publishing this data?

Data on offenders is already collected across the justice system and publicly available. It does not currently include data on nationality, as to do so would imply that where you were born has an impact on the crime you might commit. There is a wealth of research and evidence that shows sustained poverty, peer pressure, substance abuse, family relationships, access to education and poor mental health, all contribute to risk of crime. There is no evidence to suggest that where you were born is a significant indicator. 

Any selective publication of data must also be compared against the offending of British nationals if it is to be truly transparent about the concerns and risks to society. By treating statistics in isolation, the Government is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and distracting from more meaningful discussions around justice, accountability and human rights. 

It is important to remember that people who are classed as FNOs have already been convicted and served their sentences. Deportation as a result of committing an offence amounts to double punishment and does nothing to aid rehabilitation. This group can include people who have lived in the UK for the majority of their lives.

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Neal Lawson

We saw this when Windrush victims who only ever knew Britain as their home were deported to Jamaica after serving prison terms. In the aftermath of the Windrush Scandal, a leaked copy of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, recommended that people who came to the UK as children and committed a crime, should not be subject to deportation. No government has implemented or taken this recommendation on board. 

An argument against the publication of criminal data linked to nationality is not an argument against public safety – it’s an argument for it. We know that language and policies which demonise migrant communities lead to increases in hate crimes. We saw this happen after the Brexit referendum and it continues now too. Government policies are linked to these shifts – the Hostile Environment has been proven to foster racism and have a disproportionately negative impact on people of colour.

It is obvious that attempts to associate criminality with where an individual is born, and treating that as a justification for why you should not be in the UK, places unfair scrutiny on people who share those same traits. We have seen this time and time again, where Muslim communities are regularly associated with acts of terrorism and have been targeted through programmes like Prevent, or the fact that black people get stopped at six times the rate of white people under stop and search legislation.

Those of us who work on the frontlines are clear that hostility to migrants can only be combatted by acting in solidarity with migrant communities and ensuring their fair treatment. It means not accepting the premise that there isn’t enough resources to go around simply because there are people from other countries living in the UK. It also means addressing the very real issues that the public is facing, including poor economic conditions, failures in services like the NHS and poor-quality housing.

The very worst approach is to create the conditions in which the public believes there is a scarcity of resource and is then given a scapegoat to blame. If Labour wants to reduce the threat of Reform at the next election, it must abandon the illusion that it can outflank them on their own turf.