Home Office says record number of refused asylum seekers deported since July

Labour's description of 16,400 immigration offenders and foreign criminals' angers campaigners

Keir Starmer has boasted of deporting a record number of refused asylum seekers and overseas criminals since scrapping the Rwanda scheme, using language that has dismayed human rights campaigners.

The Home Office said on Thursday it had returned more than 16,400 immigration offenders and foreign criminals" since the election in July, the highest six-month total since 2018.