Victims of crimes committed by migrants have banded together to encourage Labour to publish data on foreign offences.
As it stands, the Government has been accused of “covering up” the full extent of foreign offending across England and Wales from 2018 to 2024 by preventing the publication of complete data on crime statistics.
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In a letter addressed to Justice Secretary Alex Norris, victims, bolstered by their families’ support, have called on Labour to drop plans to avoid the data’s publication.
They argue the release of the data is “clearly and legitimately in the public interest”.
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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 adds.
It continues: “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.”
Some of the signatories include victims of high-profile sexual assaults, as well as murders, by illegal immigrants.”
One victim who signed the letter includes a 14-year-old victim of a sexual assault committed by an illegal immigrant in Epping, the town where asylum seekers were housed in the controversial Bell Hotel.
Fiona Goddard, the rape gangs survivor who has campaigned about her experience of being groomed as a young girl, has also signed the letter to Mr Norris.
The pair are also joined by eight family members of Rhiannon Whyte, a hotel worker who was brutally murdered by a Sudanese national.
The letter reads: “We believe that victims and the wider public deserve transparency about the people who enter our country and the crimes they subsequently commit.
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“Whatever conclusions the data ultimately reveals, we believe that withholding it further damages public trust and prevents any meaningful action from being taken.
“Transparency should be the starting point when dealing with information of such significance.
“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.”
Think tank the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) has already pushed the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to release the data in question.
The data is due to set out the complete number of convictions, revealing the nationality and offences, released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Government refused the release at first, insisting the data gathering would be too costly and could risk breaching privacy laws.
The Information Commissioner ruled has twiced ruled that the data should be published, however.
Nick Timothy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, told The Telegraph: “Labour has consistently refused to publish sex crime data by nationality.
“Why are they trying to appeal against releasing the data? Do Labour just want to cover up the truth about foreign national offenders?”
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