Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has admitted paying £2,000 to foreign criminals on deportation flights “doesn’t look good” but argues it is a better alternative to keeping them in British jails.

Nearly 50 foreign national offenders were filmed by ITV News being taken from immigration removal centres to be flown back to Romania, where they were each given bank cards pre-loaded with up to £2,000.

Ms Mahmood said: “Out of context, it’s not great, it doesn’t look good”, but argued that “a voluntary removal is actually cheaper for the British taxpayer”.

She explained: “It has long been the case that we do offer financial packages as an incentive to people to drop their claims and drop the attempts they make to stay in our country, and to board a flight and leave.”

The return scheme could save an estimated £54,000 a year per prisoner and is designed to encourage offenders to agree to an early removal from the UK before they have completed their prison sentences.

The Home Secretary’s move could pave the way for sex offender Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu to be deported, after he was sentenced to 12 months in jail yesterday.

Nearly 11,000 foreign offenders are in jails in England and Wales, accounting for more than one in eight in total prisoners and costing the taxpayer nearly £600million a year.

Ms Mahmood said she “will be ramping up the numbers” with the one-in, one-out scheme and “hopes to say more about that in the weeks to come”.

The Facilitated Return Scheme has been in place for foreign criminals since 2006.

Those who choose to leave the country can be handed cash up to £1,500 to help their resettlement, with the maximum amount available to foreign nationals who ask to be removed while they are serving their prison sentence, or eligible family members.

A £750 payment is offered to offenders who apply after their jail term, or to those who have non-custodial convictions.

There is also a discretionary extra £500 grant for those with vulnerabilities including mental health disorders, disabilities, serious illness or homelessness.

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IMs Mahmood also said she intended to “ramp up” one–in, one–out deportations to France.

Under the scheme, which came into force last month and seeks to remove those who crossed the English Channel back to the continent, in exchange for those who apply in France and are approved being able to come to Britain.

The sentence comes as new rules came into force yesterday, which attempts to see foreign prisoners deported at an earlier point in their sentence to free up jail space.

Those who are serving fixed-term sentences with no right to stay in the UK could be deported after serving 30 per cent of their jail term, instead of 50 per cent currently.

Ms Mahmood, who was then serving as Justice Secretary, also announced plans for further reforms in August to deport eligible foreign prisoners immediately when they receive a custodial sentence.

This law change is included in the Sentencing Bill, which is currently going through the Houses of Parliament.

Ms Mahmood also said she was “worried about the rise of the far right” in England.

The Birmingham Ladywood MP told ITV News: “I think it is getting out of control and I worry about where that may lead. As politicians, we should hold the line on what is patriotism and what is nationalism, there is a line there, I know where it is.”

Stressing the importance of controlling British borders, the Home Secretary said: “[It] creates the space for fundamental, decent, British people to be welcoming of those who come to our country and to contribute.

“We have a clear agreement with the French, we will want to see those numbers increase… I’m not going to get ahead of operational decisions.”

She continued: “I want us to get to a point where the numbers that are being removed are acting as a deterrent and stop people getting on the boats in the first place.

“We have proved it can work, we’ve got flights off the ground, more are going this week, and we will be looking to ramp up the numbers.”