Dozens of extremists who are deemed a threat to national security face 24/7 monitoring because human rights laws are preventing their deportations, the Sunday Express can reveal.
The Home Office sparked fury after admitting some 170 foreign nationals are living in the UK under restrictions because they are considered dangerous – but cannot be booted out. And more than half “have been involved in terrorism
or extremism-related activities”, this newspaper can reveal.
The shocking revelations sparked calls to radically overhaul human rights laws and leave the European Convention on Human Rights, with critics branding it a “criminal’s charter for the very worst people in our society”.
A Home Office minister admitted it is “disgraceful” that terrorists have been able to stay, vowing that tough laws which received Royal Assent last week will allow the police, security services and Immigration Enforcement teams to track “their every move through electronic monitoring” while Labour tries to deport them “rapidly”.
A Government Equality Impact Assessment published last week as part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill revealed: “Provisions for imposing conditions on immigration leave, where a foreign national poses a threat to the public but cannot be removed from the UK, may be more likely to affect certain age groups.
“Around 170 people are currently on restricted leave, with over half having
been involved in terrorism or extremism-related activities.”
Restrictions typically imposed on terrorists include requirements to live at a specific address, a curfew, wearing an ankle monitor, internet bans and limits on how they can use their mobile phones. They will also be barred from working or studying in the UK.
It is not clear how many of the 170 foreign nationals on restricted leave face such requirements.
But Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has revealed human rights laws will be overhauled to limit how failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and immigration offenders can claim a right to a family life to dodge deportation. A family will be defined as “parents and their children”, under new Home Office plans.
Meanwhile, judges will be ordered to prioritise public safety and immigration controls over Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to a family life.
Labour has also insisted the UK – alongside European allies – will try to renegotiate Article 3 – the right to freedom from persecution and torture, amid fears it is being abused. Many believe this to be the key stumbling block for many deportations.
The Border Security Bill includes a provision to permanently bar national security threats from ever settling.
It also allows for the wider use of electronic tagging and the introduction of curfews for people with limited leave to remain.
Previously, only those on immigration bail could face such restrictions.
However the revelations uncovered by the Sunday Express prompted calls for much more radical action.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “At our mass deportations press conference in August we announced that we would leave the ECHR and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture and the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention. At the time, Reform and myself were condemned for even suggesting this. Had this government found the backbone to do so, things like this would not be happening.”
He said the Labour government is “filled to the brim with woke human rights lawyers” who “prioritise a foreign court in Strasbourg over the security of the British people”.
The Conservatives have also vowed to leave the ECHR if they win the next election but a report by Shadow Attorney General Lord Wolfson ruled out leaving the Refugee Convention.
He argued that the UK would be able to introduce much tougher immigration policies and deport foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers and immigration offenders without breaching the 1951 Convention.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Our broken borders are a national security emergency. We have to leave the ECHR and deport every single one of these terrorists and extremists.
“This government is clueless as to how bad the problem is and how to fix it.”
Former Home Secretary and Attorney General Suella Braverman said: “Human rights laws give an open goal for the enemies of Britain to exploit.
“The British people will not be safe until we leave the ECHR. It has become a criminals’ charter for the very worst people in our society.
“The only way to keep this country safe is to leave the ECHR and scrap the Human Rights Act so politicians can finally put the British people first. It is a national humiliation that we can’t protect our own borders but, shamefully, this government is too busy scrapping jury trials to care.”
The Home Office said more than 50,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other immigration offenders have been removed from the UK since July last year.
Border Security and Asylum minister Alex Norris said: “It is disgraceful that terrorists have been able to stay in the UK under previous rules. Our new laws will place strict restrictions on foreign nationals who pose a threat, tracking their every move.
“These laws will also enable us to get terrorists rapidly deported from British soil and keep our country safe.”