Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said.
The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” by equating migration with criminality.
Officials said the figure was the highest number in a decade.
The department said 15,200 people who were in the UK illegally were removed since the 2024 election – a 45% increase on the previous 19 months.
A statement said 43,000 people left voluntarily after being told they were in the UK illegally. Deportations of foreign national offenders have risen by 32%, with more than 8,700 deported under this Labour government.
The Home Office also released footage showing a recent removals flight, with detainees, their faces blurred, being escorted on to a plane destined for eastern Europe.
The figures have been released as the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said she would “scale up” the number of deportations even further.
Keir Starmer’s government, languishing third in recent polls behind Reform UK and the Tories, has pledged to ramp up deportations, end the use of asylum hotels and curb the number of small boats bringing people across the Channel.
More than 65,000 people have arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel since Starmer became prime minister.
The Home Office is preparing to introduce legislation to stop those facing possible removal from “gaming the system” by using the European convention on human rights to appeal against their removal.
The UK is one of several countries pushing for changes in the way the treaty is interpreted, notably in its Article 3 protection against inhuman or degrading treatment and the Article 8 right to a family life.
Both articles have been used to challenge deportation and removal decisions. Unauthorised migrants will also be restricted to a single route of appeal, the Home Office outlined.
Mahmood said: “I vowed to scale up removals of illegal migrants – and we have. However, we must go further to remove those that have no right to be in our country. I will do whatever it takes to restore order and control.”
The government has also pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this parliament by using more basic accommodation such as military sites instead.
Fewer than 200 asylum accommodation hotels remain in use, the government said, compared with a peak of 400 under the previous government.
Reacting to the Home Office announcement, Minnie Rahman, the chief executive of the migrant charity Praxis, said: “Many of those labelled ‘foreign national offenders’ have lived in the UK for most of their lives and have a legitimate right to be here.
“Yet, while the government has still not implemented key lessons from the Windrush lessons learned review, it continues to promote harmful and racist stereotypes that equate migration with criminality. This is unjust, divisive, and deeply damaging.”
Griff Ferris, a spokesperson for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “The government continues to perpetrate this cruelty and violence in an increasingly desperate attempt to court the far right. It has gone very far down a very dark road, and this announcement of mass deportations while also seeking to gut rights protections is frightening, alongside the home secretary using openly fascist rhetoric.
“Behind these numbers are real people who have had their lives torn apart. We need a compassionate system that puts people first, with the same routes of travel accessible for everyone, and the same good quality, safe housing for everyone.”
Natasha Tsangarides, a director at Freedom from Torture, said: “Chipping away at Article 3 of the ECHR is a dangerous game that could trigger a domino effect worldwide. Any attempts to erode Article 3 protections risks undermining our shared right to live a life free from torture and does the dirty work of repressive regimes abroad. This is not who we are as a country.”
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