Sam Sharma drugged and sexually abused a 14-year-old girl after the Home Office failed to deport him following a stint in prison for a police assault

Meanwhile, Labour faces increasing pressure to deport non-British criminals rather than hold them at taxpayers’ expense.

Although the justice brief is devolved to Scotland, the decision to deport foreign criminals would be up to the UK Home Office.

Labour Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has told the Commons she is looking at the point at which foreign criminals could be deported rather than be kept in jail at taxpayers’ expense.

She said: ‘Deportation for somebody who has been convicted and is due to be imprisoned in our country is as good a punishment as serving time in this country.’

Figures provided by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) show a total of £1,219,725 was paid out in legal aid for civil cases involving deportation or removal between April 2019 and December of this year.

The figures will include foreign criminals looking to challenge efforts to remove them from the country.

The money was said to cover all solicitors’ fees, counsel fees and outlays such as travel, interpreters’ costs and expert witnesses.

A recommendation for deportation to the Home Office can be made where an accused person over the age of 17 who is not a British citizen has been found to have committed an offence punishable by imprisonment.

Any actual decision on deportation is made by the Home Office.

Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more.

In October Perth Sheriff Court heard how failed asylum seeker and Indian national Sam Sharma drugged and sexually abused a 14-year-old girl after the Home Office failed to deport him following a stint in prison for a police assault.

The Home Office has said it is ‘committed to deporting foreign national offenders and aim to remove them from the UK at the earliest opportunity’.

As of November, there were 629 foreign nationals in Scottish jails, with about half convicted of a crime and the others on remand.

Such is the concentration and mix of nationalities inside Scotland’s jails that a Scottish academic has described one of Scotland’s toughest jails as akin to ‘a mini UN conference’.

Jim Watson, a criminal justice lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, said that during a recent visit to HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest jail, he had encountered inmates from all over the world.

Mr Watson told a BBC Scotland radio phone-in: ‘There are a number of foreign nationals held within Scottish prisons.

‘I was in Barlinnie last week. There were Mexicans, Vietnamese, Lithuanians, Albanians, and various others from across the world. It was like a mini-UN conference almost.

‘Part of the problem is that when you try to extradite [deport] someone, it normally kicks in a human rights appeal.’

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Keir Starmer faces new Labour rebellion as 20 councilors quit party

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a new grassroots rebellion against his leadership after a group of councillors quit en masse in protest against his ‘centrist’ policies. Twenty members of Broxtowe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire have left the party, costing it control of the authority.

In a furious open letter to the PM, leader Milan Radulovic said he was ending his own personal 42-year association with the party. He took aim at policies including the decision to make £300 winter fuel payments for pensions means-tested claiming local councillors were blocked from running for election for ‘questioning’ it.

The veteran local politician also hit out at proposals to reform local democracy with the creation of ‘super councils’ with powers over planning, saying it was ‘nothing short of a dictatorship’. ‘I cannot support and will not support another centrist government intent on destroying local democracy and dictating national policy from a high pedestal,’ he wrote.

The former Labour councillors have formed a new party, Broxtowe Independents, and plan to run the council as a minority administration, with help from other independents. Tory former minister Robert Jenrick , the MP for Newark, said: ‘Labour are ”failing the working classes.’

‘That’s just what their own councillors say about them. Labour’s internal coalition is already falling apart.’ Sir Keir Starmer hailed the past 12 months as a ‘year of change’ and insisted Britain was already starting to see the fruits of a Labour government in his new year message.

But new YouGov polling last night revealed that just 31 per cent of the electorate are upbeat about the upcoming year, with 37 per cent feeling pessimistic. There appears to be a particular disillusionment among voters who backed Labour in July’s general election – many who did so for the first time – casting doubt over whether the party can hold on to them in 2029.

Some 46 per cent of them said they ‘expected them to do well but have been disappointed’, while just over a third say they have done well so far. The Prime Minister’s own personal ratings show the problem appears to be with both party and leader, with 42 per cent of Labour voters saying they were disappointed.

Despite earning a commanding majority in the Commons last July, Labour’s popularity has continued to falter as the Prime Minister admitted to making ‘tough decisions’ to stabilise the economy. This included slashing the Winter Fuel Allowance and imposing harsher inheritance tax laws on farmers.

A poll from More in Common earlier this week showed Labour would lose its majority and nearly 200 seats if an election were held now. Party insiders are also concerned about next May’s local elections after data showed that Labour have lost more than one in five council by-elections since taking office.