Overview

• Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has proposed legislation to deport most foreign national offenders immediately on conviction for determinate sentences, excluding those with life or indeterminate terms and retaining governor discretion for security risks.
• Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expanding the 'deport now, appeal later' list from eight to 23 countries, allowing removed offenders to pursue appeals remotely via video hearings under new diplomatic and technical arrangements.
• Government statistics report almost 5,200 deportations of foreign national offenders since July 2024, a 14% rise, with the policy pitched as a way to cut annual per-cell costs of about £54,000 with prisons at near-capacity.
• Implementation requires new legislation to eliminate the existing custodial threshold, cooperation from destination countries for video-appeal capabilities and compliance with Supreme Court and ECHR limits.
• Critics including former justice secretaries and human-rights groups warn the reforms may undermine victims’ sense of justice and face legal challenges over appeal fairness and rights protections.