Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has claimed that foreign criminals are writing to him from British prisons, pleading to be deported. In a video posted on X, he cited four letters – from Lithuanian, Indian and Spanish inmates – expressing desperation to return home. One Lithuanian man, jailed at HMP York for grievous bodily harm with intent, allegedly wrote: “I am desperate to be deported back to Lithuania. Why won’t the UK get rid of us?” Farage said keeping him in the UK likely costs £50,000 a year.
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Mr Farage described these appeals as “bizarre” but indicative of a system in need of reform. One Indian prisoner, serving a sentence at HMP Ashfield, reportedly claimed the cost to taxpayers was “millions”. Farage welcomed new government proposals to reduce the length of sentences served in the UK by foreign offenders before deportation. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood recently announced plans to lower the threshold for deportation to just 30 per cent of the custodial term, compared to the current 50 per cent.
The UK currently holds nearly 11,000 foreign nationals in prison – around 12 per cent of the total prison population in England and Wales. With each prisoner costing the state approximately £54,000 per year, the overall annual cost exceeds half a billion pounds. Amid an overcrowding crisis that has triggered early releases, Farage condemned the notion of releasing domestic offenders while continuing to house foreign ones. “These people should be deported immediately,” he said.
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Farage also urged the Government to establish more prison transfer agreements, allowing foreign nationals to serve their remaining sentences in their country of origin, while ensuring Britain accepts its own nationals imprisoned abroad. Under the new policy, prisoners deported early would be banned from ever re-entering the UK. Should they breach the order and return illegally, they would be required to serve the remainder of their sentence.
