Criminal deportation drive threatens foreign aid

Liz Truss - photo credit: Paul Heartfield

Countries in receipt of British aid could face the threat of cuts if they fail to improve their prisons as part of a bid to increase deportations from the UK, it has been reported.

The Ministry of Justice and Department for International Development are working on plans to stop foreign criminals “free-riding” in British prisons, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The punitive approach, currently in “embryonic” form according to the paper, is one that has been discussed by Secretaries of State for the departments, Liz Truss and Priti Patel.

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But there is apparently some disagreement as to whether the best approach is to punish or incentivise states which receive British aid.

A source told the paper: "We are looking at how we can best ensure that from the money we spend on international aid, we get every other benefit that should flow with it. 

“One of the things that the Department for International Development does get is very good access to government ministers and the machine of government in foreign countries. 

“Quite often we are doing things that foreign governments care about, such as helping people, or at the very least they want us to do something.”

Almost 10,000 foreign nationals are currently locked up in Britain’s prisons, according to House of Commons figures.