The Labour government has launched a legal challenge against a ruling by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that would require the Ministry of Justice to publish detailed data on criminal convictions broken down by offender nationality.
The case centres on a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, which sought the total number of convictions by nationality, broken down by offence, covering the years 2018 to 2024.
The offence categories included violence against the person, sexual offences, drug offences, criminal damage, arson, weapon possession, theft and robbery.
Background to the case
In July 2025, the CMC lodged an appeal with the ICO after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) refused to release the data. The department argued, first, that compiling the figures would exceed the cost limit set under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act, and, second, that some of the information was exempt from disclosure under Section 40 of the Act on the grounds that it constituted personal data.
The Information Commissioner rejected both arguments. On the cost point, the watchdog found the MoJ had “failed to demonstrate” that compiling the data would be prohibitively expensive. On the privacy point, the Commissioner found that Section 40 was not engaged, ruling that “the requested information comprises purely statistical outputs, with no direct identifiers such as names, dates of birth, case references or locations of offences.” The Commissioner also found that any residual risk of identification could be minimised by excluding offence categories with fewer than five convictions.
On 22 June 2026, the ICO ruled that the MoJ must “disclose the requested information to the complainant.” Rather than comply, the department confirmed on 17 July that it was appealing the ruling to the General Regulatory Chamber, a first-tier tribunal that hears challenges to decisions made by government regulators.
“Cover-up” claims
News of the appeal, first reported by the Daily Telegraph under the headline “Lammy fighting to ‘cover up’ foreigners’ crimes,” prompted criticism from opposition politicians. Then-Justice Secretary David Lammy had previously written to Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy rejecting calls for the full dataset to be published, saying the MoJ already released a “range of statistical breakdowns” on foreign national offenders and kept its publication policy under “continuous review.” A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the department did not recognise the characterisation of a cover-up, adding, “We are in the process of appealing the ICO’s decision and we do not comment on live legal proceedings.”
The appeal was lodged during David Lammy’s tenure as Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary. Lammy left government on 20 July, when Sir Keir Starmer resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Andy Burnham. Alex Norris has since been appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in Burnham’s reshuffled Cabinet. It is not yet clear whether the change in Cabinet personnel will affect the department’s approach to the ongoing tribunal case.
Centre for Migration Control response
Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, said the publication of the data was firmly in the public interest.
“It is clearly in the public interest for this information to be released, and for the country to know that open borders have made our country less safe,” he said. “It is astonishing that the government is going to the courts in an effort to fight against such important transparency, and raises serious questions as to what they are hiding.”
Bates added that the data was important for future policy on foreign offenders: “The publication of this data is vital if we want to see an increase in the deportation of foreign criminals, and the introduction of more stringent checks in our legal migration system.”
Further details on the case, including the full text of the ICO’s ruling, have been published by the Centre for Migration Control at migrationcentral.co.uk.
