Foreigners with a criminal conviction in the past year could be banned from entering the UK under a post-Brexit immigration crackdown on overseas offenders.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has widened her planned UK ban on criminals jailed for more than a year to include people from both the EU and non-EU countries with less serious convictions.
Under the changes to be laid before Parliament on Thursday, the UK will ditch the current “soft” EU rules that only allow immigration officials to ban anyone who poses “a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society.”
The new rules, which take effect on January 1, 2021, will bar all foreign criminals, including those from the EU sentenced to at least a year in jail, from entering the UK.
Any foreigner coming to the UK for first time, who has been jailed for less than a year, will also be barred from entering. Any visitor or new arrival who has a non-custodial sentence in the previous 12 months, such as a drink drive conviction, could also be barred.
A foreign criminal with a sentence of less than 12 months, but who has ties to the UK through residence or relatives, could still be barred but will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
The Home Secretary will reserve the right to bar persistent offenders or anyone whose presence in the UK “is not conducive to the public good.” The Government will also have the power to remove rough sleepers from the UK “as a last resort” if efforts to get them accommodation and benefits, or citizenship through the EU settlement scheme, are rebuffed.
The Home Office admitted attempts to deny entry could be thwarted or delayed if someone claimed it was a breach under the European Convention on Human Rights, or if their criminal offence was not recognised in the UK.
Ms Patel said: “For too long, EU rules have forced us to allow dangerous foreign criminals, who abuse our values and threaten our way of life, onto our streets.
“The UK will be safer thanks to firmer and fairer border controls where foreign criminals, regardless of nationality, will be subject to the same criminality rules.”