Boris Johnson to crackdown on illegal immigrants ignoring deportation orders (Image: Reuters)
Boris Johnson’s new legislative programme, to be set out at the State Opening of Parliament, will include drastically increasing sentences for banished lawbreakers returning from overseas from the current 10-week average. Offenders convicted of serious violence or sex attacks will also be kept locked up for longer under a proposal to abolish current rules allowing their early release half-way through jail terms imposed by the courts. Murderers who refuse to disclose the location of their victims’ bodies could also be denied parole.
And laws against domestic abuse are to be radically update to ensure better protection for victims.
The package of measures will form the centrepiece of a wide-ranging new Government programme today to show the Prime Minister is serious about tackling the surge in crime on Britain’s streets and keeping people safe.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “We have been a soft touch on foreign criminals for too long.
“The sentence for breaching a deportation order is far too low at the moment and many criminals conclude that it’s worth trying to get back in the country when all you get is a slap on the wrist.
“Deterring foreign criminals from re-entering the country and putting those that do behind bars for longer will make our country safer.”
Mr Johnson’s first legislative programme is to include a wide-ranging raft of proposals including raising the minimum hourly wage to £10.50, scrapping the rail franchise system and introducing compulsory voter identification at polling stations.
Priti Patel says UK has been a ‘soft touch’ on foreign criminals for too long (Image: Getty)
Draft legislation for an EU Withdrawal Agreement and for introducing a new post-Brexit points-based immigration system will also be unveiled.
And the Prime Minister has also sought to deliver on his promises made during the Tory leadership campaign for tackling rising crime.
He has already begun a driver to recruit 20,000 more police officers and is determined to toughen sentences to keep criminal locked up for longer.
In particular, the Prime Minister and his Home Secretary will seek to address public concern about crimes committed by foreigners.
A new criminal justice bill will increase sentences for foreign national offenders who return to the UK in breach of deportation orders.
Whitehall sources said the move would lengthen such jail terms from “weeks to years”.
Ministers believe the measure will help disrupt the activities of organised crime networks operating across national borders. Around 400 crooks are estimated to break deportation orders every year yet typically only face a six-month sentence.
The proposed new law will also give police new powers to arrest on the basis of warnings from Interpol.
Under current rules, officers need to apply for a warrant to arrest on the basis of a “Red Notice” from the international crime-fighting organisation, a process that can take up to eight hours.
Measures in the proposed criminal justice bill will allow police to carry out arrests as soon as they receive an Interpol “Red Notice”.
A separate Domestic Abuse Bill included in the Queen’s Speech will set out a new legal definition of the crime and give legal force to the role of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.
It will emphasise that domestic abuse can cover economic and emotional abuse and coercive behaviour as well as physical attacks.
Victims of the crime will automatically be eligible for special protection during court proceedings including being able to give evidence by video link.
Sentencing proposals announced by Ms Patel in her Tory conference speech will also feature in the Queen’s Speech.
The Government will abolish the current automatic half-way release for the most serious offenders who currently receive standard fixed-term sentences, including those found guilty of rape, manslaughter and grievous bodily harm.
Community sentences are also to be toughened up under the law-and-order crackdown to ensure they are not a “soft option”.
And the Queen’s speech will also include the long-expected “Helen’s Law” to place a legal duty on the Parole Board to reflect the cruelty of killers who refuse to give the location of a victim’s remains when considering their release.
The measure follows a campaign named after Helen McCourt, who was murdered in 1988. Her killer Ian Simms has not revealed the location of her remains.
Today’s Queen Speech will also formally declare the end to free movement for EU citizens to come to the UK by unveiling a Bill to introduce an Australian-style points-based immigration system.
It emerged yesterday the legislation will offer preferential treatment for would-be migrants if they agree to live outside London and the South East of England in a bid to promote economic growth in less prosperous parts of the country.
Applicants to come to the UK will gain a higher score if they signal that they are prepared to live in low-income areas.
Migrants from in-demand professions including doctors, nurses or computer programmers will also score highly in the application procedure.
