Kemi Badenoch has backed Donald Trump-style mass deportations of foreign criminals to end Britain’s borders crisis.

The Conservative leader – in a bid to see off the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK – added that illegal migrants should be deported.

“Otherwise, you’re rewarding people for breaking the law”, Mrs Badenoch said.

Home Office figures show that there were 19,244 foreign criminals living in communities across Britain awaiting deportation at the end of last year.

Some 3,594 foreign criminals have been deported since Labour came to power – a 16 per cent increase on the same period 12 months earlier.

But ministers are under intense pressure to go further and faster.

Mrs Badenoch said in an interview: “We need to make sure that we remove foreign criminals from our country.

“And we actually put down an amendment that says that we will deport. It's not going to be easy, but you've got to start from somewhere.

“If you start from the position of, oh, well, it can't be done, then you're never going to do it.

“We have a problem now with immigration being too high. I have acknowledged that that happened under the Conservatives' watch.

“I was not in charge. I am now. And that is something that we are going to fix.”

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Matt Chorley responded: “If you were Prime Minister you would commit to mass deportations of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants?”

Mrs Badenoch added: “Of foreign criminals? Absolutely. If people are in the country illegally, then they should be deported. That is the law. Otherwise you're rewarding people for breaking the law.”

The Conservatives are trying to regain control of the narrative on immigration as they face the electoral threat of Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

Mr Farage has ruled out mass deportations.

The Reform UK leader insisted he wants to deport as “many of them that come”.

But asked if he was talking about Donald Trump-style mass deportations, the Reform UK leader insisted: “Australian – Tony Abbott-style. They had the boat problem, coming from Indonesia.

“They grappled with it for years.

“Tony just towed the boats back to Indonesia. End of.”

More foreign sex offenders could be deported as they will be banned from claiming asylum, under new changes.

The Home Office will bar overseas nationals on the sex offenders’ register from being granted refugee status.

It follows the scandal of Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi being granted asylum despite receiving a suspended sentence in 2018 for sexual assault and exposure.

He went on to throw alkaline into the face of his ex-partner and her two children, leading to a nationwide manhunt before his body was found in the River Thames.

Home Office insiders believe their decision to include all sex offences in the legal changes could lead to immigration judges concluding that perverts sentenced to less than 12 months behind bars should be deported because they are not “conducive to the public good”.

The UK previously only treated an offence which led to a sentence of more than 12 months as a “particularly serious crime”.

But fury intensified on Tuesday as critics warned the Prime Minister that Article 3 of the ECHR – freedom from torture – supersedes the Refugee Convention. This, Sir Keir was warned, means more criminals could lodge claims to stay in the UK using human rights laws.

Responding to Sir Keir's claim that he is “changing the system” to prevent foreign sex offenders claiming asylum, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is deeply dishonest by Starmer.

“Foreign criminals will just use ECHR Article 3 instead.

“When we tabled an amendment to stop foreign criminals and those with no right to be here using human rights claims in UK law, Labour voted against it. Starmer won’t fix this.”

Former home secretary Suella Braverman said: “More hollow words that mean nothing.

“The Prime Minister knows that under the ECHR these criminals can’t be deported even if he really wanted to do that.

“We must leave the ECHR and take back control of our borders.”