IMPORTING FOREIGN CRIMINALS

On reading today`s government publication of prison statistics a colleague in London has pointed out to me that there is little mention of foreign prisoners in the system notwithstanding those awaiting deportation. It is hardly a state secret that the powers to deport  E.U.  citizens guilty of even serious crime are rarely implemented. My London colleague says it is unusual not to have at least one Eastern European on some charge or another when she sits in the remand court. Indeed she added the proportion is often at least 20% of those in the dock. Whilst her observations are of interest they are no substitute for hard facts. Perhaps in the mass of statistics there might be some comment. After all, a country which has seen an influx of (East European and South Asian) immigrants in two decades such a rate never having before been experienced in its entire history is not unlikely to have a fair share of criminals or those of criminal intent amongst their number.

The recent elections for the European Parliament have shown the rise of constitutional right wing parties although some of those espouse rhetoric bordering on that of the late unlamented BNP. They have achieved this position, UKIP included, because the major parties have steadfastly refused to address the question of immigration and multiculturalism. Those so doing have faced accusations of xenophobia and worse. Political animals and the tabloids will rush to fill any void in the political spectrum just as air will rush into a damaged vacuum tank in a laboratory. It is a dead certainty that the numbers of foreigners in British prisons will be a political debating point long before next May.