Yvette Cooper, the home secretary of the British Labour Party, ordered the publication of migrant crime statistics by nationality, The Telegraph reported.
The Home Office will release official “league tables” of crimes committed by foreign nationals residing in the UK, including those awaiting deportation, according to the outlet. The decision will mark the first time the British government has provided a comprehensive breakdown of foreign criminality, with the public previously only having access to unofficial migrant crime statistics.
“Not only are we deporting foreign criminals at a rate never seen when Chris Philip and Robert Jenrick were in charge at the Home Office, but we will also be publishing far more information about that cohort of offenders than the Tories ever did,” a Labour source told the outlet.
Labour is expected to release the first tranche of data by the end of 2025, with figures focusing on the 19,000-plus foreign nationals currently awaiting deportation orders, the outlet reported. The tables will detail categories like violent crime, robbery, theft and drug offenses by nationality.
Jenrick, immigration minister under the previous Tory government, celebrated the move as a “breakthrough” in an Instagram video.
“The coverup is coming to an end,” Jenrick said. “We’ll finally see the hard reality that mass migration is fueling crime across our country.”
Home Office officials previously claimed the data was too complex to compile, according to The Telegraph, but Cooper reportedly overruled those objections, insisting the public has a right to know who is committing crimes in their communities. Labour’s sudden pivot toward migrant hawkishness — as well as a rightward shift on social issues — comes amid growing concern that Reform could peel off working-class voters in traditional Labour strongholds fed up with immigration chaos.
The move marks a major turning point in British immigration politics, where data on migrant offenders has long been suppressed or diluted for fear of publish backlash, especially in case of foreign rape gangs, the Telegraph separately reported. With Reform ascendant in public polling — combined with shifting attitudes on criminal justice, social norms and immigration — Labour’s leadership has seemingly been rattled into reordering its priorities.
Reform and Labour are neck and neck at 25% and 23%, respectively, in YouGov voting intention polls ahead of the May 1 local elections, with the Tories trailing behind at 20%. The polls suggest a rapid improvement for Reform, which claimed 14.3% of the total vote share in the 2024 general elections in July, resulting in five Reform seats in Parliament — making it one of the smallest parties in terms of representation.
Critics from pro-migrant lobbies and left-leaning advocacy groups are already condemning the move as “irresponsible” and “dog-whistle politics.”
“There is no rationale for publicising foreign national offenders’ nationalities bar it being a blatant exercise in scapegoating and to appear tough on migration,” Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, told HuffPost UK. She also warned that linking nationality with crime could reignite tensions similar to those seen in the anti-asylum riots in Britain last summer.
This Labour government’s Borders Bill will restore order to the asylum and immigration system and strengthen border security.
Tory and Reform MPs failed to back it. pic.twitter.com/kUZLWRxuGd
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 10, 2025
Opponents within Labour’s left flank are similarly branding the move as political capitulation, with a party insider accusing Cooper of “pandering to Farage” in a statement to The Guardian. The Reform leader, however, has frequently drawn criticism from the right over his reluctance to take a harder stance on immigration, particularly his refusal to embrace figures like anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson, who is currently imprisoned for “repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee,” according to the BBC.
Farage previously resigned from UKIP, a party he led until his departure in 2018, over its “fixation” with Robinson, describing him as “thuggish” and excoriating the party’s rightward shift on migration in an op-ed published in The Telegraph.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Elon Musk said in January.
Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree.
My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles. https://t.co/V7iccN6usS
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) January 5, 2025
The May 1 elections will decide which parties will control councils in local governments. The next parliamentary general elections are scheduled for 2029, though Prime Minister Keir Starmer can call a snap election at any time before then.
The Home Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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