Matt Warman, MP for Boston and Skegness, has welcomed assurances from Immigration Minister James Brokenshire MP that the Government is working to tackle violent crime, regardless of the nationality of its perpetrators.

Matt wrote to the Home Office to highlight the spate of crimes that have occurred in Boston recently, as well as speaking to Home Secretary Theresa May and Chief Constable Neil Rhodes. Matt emphasised his commitment to the Government policies that ensure those who commit crimes are brought to justice and deported should they not be British nationals.

In his response, the Minister emphasised that the Government continues to take crime reduction, regardless of the severity of the offence, extremely seriously, and that where crime is committed by foreign nationals, it seeks to deport such individuals wherever it can.

Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity, and deportation orders remain in place indefinitely to prevent re-entry to the UK.

During the last Parliament, the Government introduced a number of measures in the Immigration Act 2014 to strengthen its ability to deport foreign criminals, including requiring Courts to have regard to Parliament’s view that deportation is in the public interest, and requiring criminals to lodge any appeal from abroad.

Matt said, “The recent crimes in Boston are not connected to each other, but any increase in violent crime worries me and worries constituents. I want to make sure that we are at the forefront of government plans to crack down on crime by all nationalities. I welcome the existing crackdown on problem drinking, and the fact that 5,000 foreign criminals were deported last year alone. The Minister also confirmed that details for the forthcoming Immigration Bill are being finalised, and I will certainly be paying close attention to the Bill as it passes through Parliament later this year.”