Fury as more than 18,000 foreign criminals living in Britain – THREE times more than eight years ago

MORE than 18,000 foreign criminals are out on the streets - three times the amount just eight years ago.

The Home Office figures sparked fury and fresh demands for Labour to further ramp up deportations.

At the end of September last year some 18,069 foreign national offenders were living in the community having served a .

The number has more than tripled since 2017 when 5,933 overseas convicts were in Britain.

Immigration minister Seema Malhotra said: “We will continue to pursue deportation action against individuals living in the community rigorously, actively monitoring and managing cases through the legal process and working hard to overcome any barriers to removal.”

She dug out the stats in response to a parliamentary question from Tory MP Neil O’Brien, who lashed out at lefty lawyers thwarting removals.

He told The Sun: “The truth is that until the government stops putting human rights concerns over the British people, more and more dangerous foreign criminals will be on our streets when they should be being deported.

“The number of people being deported in the past few years has collapsed and nothing the government is currently doing will fix that.

“Many will also be living on benefits at the expense of British taxpayers.”

Several blocked attempts to return foreign offenders have sparked incredulity in recent weeks.

The Sun revealed how a Jamaican man who raped a sleeping woman was allowed to stay after claiming he was bisexual and would face discrimination back home.

The Home Office insists it is hiking deportations, with 16,400 removed in the six months since the election - the highest in half a decade.