LONDON, Aug 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The UK government announced Sunday that it will expand a scheme forcing some foreign nationals to have appeals against convictions heard from abroad, to prevent them delaying deportations.

The number of countries enrolled in the initiative will nearly treble to 23, with people from those nations now to be deported before they can appeal their convictions, it said.

In a separate announcement, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she intends to change the law so most foreign criminals will be deported immediately when they receive a prison sentence.

Foreign national offenders make up around 12 percent of the prison population, and the move could ssave money, according to Mahmood.

The steps come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer's centre-left Labour government faces intense domestic pressure over immigration, as Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK party surges in polls.

Farage, a longtime critic of immigration, has made the issue central to his party's messaging, alongside a focus on crime.

Starmer's government, which has slumped in popularity since taking power a year ago, has made a flurry of announcements on both policy areas in an apparent bid to counter Reform's appeal.

The interior ministry said the expansion of the pre-appeal deportation scheme will increase "the UK's ability to remove foreign criminals at the earliest opportunity".

It will also ease pressure on overcrowded prisons, it noted.

The ministry added that almost 5,200 convicted criminals with foreign passports had been removed since July 2024, claiming that represented a 14 percent year-on-year increase.

Under the "deport now appeal later" scheme, those convicted and whose human rights claims have been refused will have appeals heard from their home coutries using video technology.

It has already been used for people from Tanzania, Finland, Estonia, Belize and four other countries but will be expanded to 15 additional countries.

They include European nations Latvia and Bulgaria, African countries Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, Western allies Australia and Canada as well as India, Indonesia, Lebanon and Malaysia.

The government said ministers are discussing with other countries about joining the scheme.

"For far too long, foreign criminals have been exploiting our immigration system, remaining in the UK for months or even years while their appeals drag on," interior minister Yvette Cooper said.

"That has to end. Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system," she added.