Victims of serious crimes and their families have joined forces to demand that the Labour government publish detailed data on offences committed by foreign nationals, accusing ministers of withholding information that is “clearly and legitimately in the public interest”.
The campaign centres on conviction data covering England and Wales between 2018 and 2024, which campaigners say would provide a fuller picture of the nationality of offenders and the crimes for which they were convicted.
In a letter to Justice Secretary Alex Norris, victims and relatives urged the government to abandon efforts to prevent publication of the data, arguing that continued secrecy risks further undermining public confidence in the criminal justice system and immigration policy.
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“The public deserves to see the facts for themselves, and the country urgently needs an informed debate about the consequences of immigration policy,” the letter says.
It adds: “Imagine if someone you loved had been attacked, abused, or killed by a person who had entered Britain from abroad.
“We believe that victims and the wider public deserve transparency about the people who enter our country and the crimes they subsequently commit.”
Among the signatories are victims of high-profile sexual offences and families of murder victims. One signatory is a 14-year-old victim of a sexual assault in Epping allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, in the same Essex town where asylum seekers were housed at the controversial Bell Hotel.
Fiona Goddard, a survivor of rape-gang grooming who has campaigned publicly about her experiences, has also signed the letter.
Eight relatives of Rhiannon Whyte, a hotel worker murdered by a Sudanese national, are also among those backing the demand.
The campaign has been supported by the Centre for Migration Control, a think tank that has pressed the Ministry of Justice to release the information through a Freedom of Information request.
The requested dataset is intended to provide the complete number of convictions, alongside offenders’ nationality and the offences involved.
The Ministry of Justice initially rejected the request, arguing that compiling the information would be excessively costly and could create risks around privacy law.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has twice ruled that the data should be disclosed, according to campaigners, but the government has continued to resist its release.
The dispute places ministers under pressure over how much detail should be made publicly available about the relationship between immigration and offending.
The victims’ letter argues that withholding the figures could itself have damaging consequences.
“Whatever conclusions the data ultimately reveals, we believe that withholding it further damages public trust and prevents any meaningful action from being taken,” it says.
“Transparency should be the starting point when dealing with information of such significance.”
The signatories conclude: “We therefore urge the Government to stop spending public money on this attempted cover-up and, in accordance with the decision of the Information Commissioner’s Office, release the data.”
Nick Timothy, the Conservative shadow justice secretary, accused Labour of refusing to provide information on foreign nationals convicted of sexual offences.
“Labour has consistently refused to publish sex crime data by nationality,” he told The Telegraph.
“Why are they trying to appeal against releasing the data? Do Labour just want to cover up the truth about foreign national offenders?”
The government’s handling of the request is likely to remain contentious as ministers face competing demands for greater transparency and concerns over the cost, privacy implications and interpretation of nationality-based crime statistics.
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