Priti pledges ‘regular drumbeat’ of deportations

PRITI Patel has vowed to defy ‘do-gooder’ celebrities and activist lawyers by making deportation flights a ‘regular drumbeat’.

The Home Secretary was dismayed last month when 23 people, including rapists and a murderer, who were due to be deported to Jamaica were instead removed at the 11th hour after legal challenges. In the end only 13 criminals were returned.

There were similar reprieves for some of those due to be flown out of the UK on a flight in February. Since April, the Government has chartered more than 30 flights to deport criminals to countries including Albania, France, Germany and Ghana.

A source close to Ms Patel said: ‘Each time we do a flight to Jamaica it becomes a big event. We did two last year and both ended up with statements in Parliament. We run flights to Albania sometimes twice a week. This year we will see the number of flights to Jamaica go up. They will become a regular drumbeat. It’s not fair on either the migrants or the taxpayer to have people stuck in a system where they’re about to be deported.’

Celebrities including model Naomi Campbell joined more than 60 MPs in writing to Ms Patel calling for the deportation flight to be cancelled. Those who avoided extradition after lawyers intervened included Michael White, a drug dealer who was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison for murder and attempted murder in 2003.

Ms Patel said those defending the ‘broken’ immigration appeals were ‘Leftie lawyers’.

Last year, 1,128 foreign-born serious offenders were deported. The Home Office is considering legislation allowing the deportation of foreign criminals sentenced to at least six months in jail. Under the current Borders Act, their term must be at least 12 months.