The Labour Government's decision to publish migrant crime "league tables" following pressure from across the political spectrum has been "welcomed" by leader of the Social Democratic Party William Coulston.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has called on officials to release a detailed breakdown of offences committed by foreign criminals living in the UK - whilst awaiting deportation.
The data "league table" is expected to be made public by the end of the year.
Discussing the move by Labour, Coulston declared that the "public have a right to know" this information, and he himself has "long argued" for such data to be made public.
William Coulston has hit out at Keir Starmer for his 'very foolish' act on the migrant crisis
GB News / PA
Coulston explained: "I welcome it. I've long argued that we need this data, and I'm an old fashioned social democrat on this - I think the public has a right to know. It's very legitimate that we should know this.
"The second reason why we should know it is that you can't actually make evidence based policy without the evidence, can you? So I think from Yvette Cooper's point of view, she needs to know, because she can't make policy if she doesn't have the data in front of us, so I think it's good."
Arguing that there has been "somewhat of a cover-up" on this type of data by the Government, Coulston added that certain MPs such as Rupert Lowe and Neil O'Brien "should be thanked" for their work in pushing Labour to do this.
Coulston told GB News: "I think we need to thank certain MPs, like Neil O'Brien and Rupert Lowe and Nick Timothy, that have pressed this again and again and again expressed that the public has a right to know."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Albanians top the league table of the nationalities most likely to be arrested in the UK, Centre for Migration Control analysis saidGB NEWSWhen asked by host Tom Harwood how such data would inform Labour policy in tackling migration, Coulston warned that it would be "very foolish" for the Government to continue "high migration rates" from the countries that top the league table.
Coulston cautioned: "Well, if you found out that a particular population from a particular country was disproportionately criminal, massively so, then it would be very foolish, wouldn't it, to continue high migration rates from that country.
"I think to not do that is just totally irrational. But in fact, what we've had is a situation where we've lost control of the border on the south coast, and the country's economic model has been addicted to very, very high, low wage, low skilled migration for years, but we haven't had the data to look at it seriously."
Offering another aspect to the league tables, Coulston claimed that the Government should publish "net contributions per migrant population", in order to "make good policy" on migration.
Clouston told GB News that the league tables should also feature 'contributions per population'
GB News
Coulston concluded: "Another aspect which I think is absolutely vital that the country open up so the citizen can see it is net contributions per migrant population. I think that is another bit of information that you need to have some sort of league table.
"You need to have some handle on what sort of contribution the person is likely to make on the basis of the population level. And if you don't have that, you can't make good policy."
He added: "I've long argued that the craziness down at the South Coast - if you had 700 people arriving, unsolicited, undocumented each day, I think it's not unreasonable to assume that those 700 people will cost you a country £350million over their lifetimes.
"And if that's the case, I think the citizens have a right to know. And then we have a right to challenge the politicians that are in charge of this, to ask them what the hell they're doing."
A Home Office source said: "We want to ensure the public is kept better informed about the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation, where they are from, and the crimes they have committed."
