Fewer than 1 in 100 foreign prisoners in UK transferred home this year despite Labour pledge to free jail space

FEWER than one in 100 foreign prisoners in England and Wales were transferred home this year — despite Labour pledging to free jail space to ease overcrowding.

Only 73 overseas lags — and just 33 in 2023 — were returned to finish their terms overseas, Ministry of Justice figures reveal.

At the end of March, there were 10,422 foreign nationals in jails, representing around 12 per cent of all prisoners.

Each costs the taxpayer £47,000 a year to accommodate, feed and rehabilitate.

More Albanians — 1,272 — were held in 2024 than any other nationality, ahead of Poland (906) and Romania (750).

Among foreign inmates is Jamaican-born Ernesto Elliott, 46.

He got life, with 26 years minimum for murder, plus 12 years concurrent for robbery, in 2023.

He killed a man in 2022 after he was spared deportation following a campaign involving celebrities.

Also included is “Rolex ripper” Amine Bentaib, 30, who was jailed for 45 months this month for trying to steal an £18,000 watch.

There have been calls to increase transfers rather than release British criminals en masse.

Thousands were let out early this year after 40 percent of their time.

The Ministry of Justice released its figures in response to a parliamentary question from Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

He said: “Deporting ­foreign criminals, immediately, should not even be up for any debate.

“They are not our problem.

“Their rehabilitation is not our problem.

“These figures prove just how pathetically weak our establishment has been.”

A Government spokesman said the removal rate was up 21 per cent since July compared with the period in 2023.