LABOUR was accused of scapegoating ethnic minorities after the Home Office revealed it will publish the nationalities of foreign criminals for the first time today.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered officials to publish the data including the crimes that have been committed by the end of the year.

The move is expected to lead to “league tables” of foreign nationals showing which nationalities are more associated with particular crimes.

It is the latest hard-line anti-immigration policy announced by the Home Office in recent weeks as Labour faces potential humiliation at the hands of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in next week’s local elections.

Today MPs and migrant charities accused Ms Cooper of pandering to racism and stoking the possibility of riots.

Labour MP for Norwich South and former shadow defence secretary Clive Lewis said: “People deserve transparency, but that means the full picture — not just stats that single out foreign nationals without showing how they compare to everyone else.

“Without that context, it’s too easy for the media and politicians to twist the story and stir up hate. In a time when debate around migration is so often driven by fear and headlines, we need honest, level-headed conversations that focus on facts and real solutions — not scapegoats.”

Migrants Rights Network chief executive Fizza Qureshi said: “The criminal justice system, policing and immigration systems are infamously racist and disproportionately impact racialised people.

“Attempts to manufacture a link between nationalities and criminality only serves to deepen prejudice and discrimination towards migrants from certain countries. 

“Linking the nationality, ethnicity and immigration status with crime is nothing more than dogwhistle politics, which is incredibly irresponsible in the aftermath of last summer’s racist riots.”

James Wilson, the director of Detention Action, which supports people in immigration detention, added: “The dangers are very clear.

“Less than a year after the anti-asylum riots, the government risks feeding further division, dehumanisation and prejudice in our communities.”

Jacqueline McKenzie, head of the immigration and asylum team at Leigh Day, said: “A league table of foreign national offenders awaiting deportation and their offences is set to be published.

“The serious issue of addressing crime and deporting people who should not be in the UK comes down instead to a sport of risking increased animosity towards some communities.”

Foreign nationals sentenced to 12 months or more in prison are subject to automatic deportation.

A Home Office source has claimed that the government wanted the public to be better informed about foreign criminals, including where they came from.

Figures show that there were more than 19,000 foreign offenders awaiting deportation at the end of last year, up from almost 18,000 when the Conservatives left office.

Home Office sources blamed the increase in the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation on early releases on prison overcrowding, instability in some countries, making deportations difficult, and a litany of appeals against deportation on human rights grounds.

In February, it emerged that guidance for staff assessing people who apply for naturalisation in Britain said applicants who had “made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship.”

Last week, the British and French governments were involved in early talks about a returns agreement that would involve the two countries exchanging people seeking asylum.

An immigration summit will be held by law firm Leigh Day on April 29, coinciding with the seventh anniversary of the emergence of the Windrush scandal.

Lawyers say the summit will provide a crucial forum for legal experts and advocates to examine the real-world impact of these policies, voice challenges to injustices, and propose pathways toward a fairer, more humane immigration system.