FOREIGN prisoners will be sent back to countries that were previously considered to be unsafe for deportation, the Prime Minister pledged yesterday.

Forced on to the defensive by another day of damaging revelations about failures in the immigration system, Tony Blair cast aside previous government commitments not to send people to states where they could face inhumane treatment.

But his promise to try to get round human rights laws was undermined by his own Immigration Minister. Tony McNulty said that there would be situations where it would not be possible to deport people.

Of the 1,023 foreign national prisoners who were not considered for deportation having served prison sentences, 58 were from Iraq, 42 from Algeria, 19 from Iran and 48 from Somalia. All four are countries to which British courts are reluctant to deport, having grave reservations about human rights abuses.

The Conservatives accused Mr Blair of being disingenuous with the promise and questioned whether they would deport prisoners to a country where they could be executed. The confusion over foreign prisoner deportation came as David Cameron, the Conservative leader, described the Prime Minister as being “rattled” over the Government’s failure to know how many illegal immigrants were in the country and how many people have been sent letters telling them to leave.

Mr Blair said at Prime Minister’s Questions that there should be a “presumption of automatic deportation” in the “vast bulk” of such foreign national prisoner cases.

He added: “Those people, in my view, should be deported irrespective of any claim that they have that the country to which they are going back may not be safe.”

But judges are refusing to send people back to states where they may be at risk of torture and death.

Mr McNulty admitted that in some cases it might not be possible to deport foreign national prisoners. He said: “There will be situations where we cannot deport people because of the parlous state of a particular country.”

Mr McNulty said that under proposals being considered by the Home Office, such individuals could serve “fuller” jail terms in Britain to allow time for conditions to improve in their own countries.

Mr Blair also softened the Government’s approach to when foreign nationals should be considered for deportation.

Under proposals outlined by the Home Office, foreigners convicted of an imprisonable offence, even if they receive a non-custodial sentence, face a “presumption” that they will be deported.

But the Prime Minister told MPs: “The whole point is that it only applies to people who have gone to prison.”

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