The UK Conservative Party has drafted legislative amendments aimed at closing legal loopholes that block the deportation of Shabir Ahmed, the convicted ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp urged Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to adopt the proposals as emergency legislation to expedite the removal of the 73-year-old child rapist, who was released on license last week.
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The current legal framework protects certain Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 from deportation, even after losing British citizenship.
Ahmed lost his citizenship in 2016 after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence.
"Shabir Ahmed is a vile rapist who organised a gang of Pakistani-origin men to systematically gang rape girls as young as 12.
Despicable men like this have no place in the UK and he must be urgently deported back to Pakistan," Philp said.
Philp stated that the technical amendment would target the Immigration Act 1971 to remove barriers preventing the immediate removal of foreign national offenders.
"That's why we'll table a technical amendment to the Government's immigration bill to close the legal loophole dating back to 1971 preventing his deportation.
I also call on the Government to act even more quickly by introducing our amendment as emergency legislation, which can be passed through Parliament in days," Philp added.
The opposition politician challenged regional leadership to support the fast-tracked legislative adjustment to ensure the offender's swift removal.
