DAVID Cameron has insisted he is tackling the deportation of foreign criminals after a damning report exposed successive government failures to get a grip of the issue.

The Prime Minister told MPs the report from the National Audit Office said there were "too many obstacles in the way" of removing foreign national offenders, including human rights legislation. "We're making progress," he declared. "The buck does stop with me but I wouldn't mind a bit of cross-party support for the actions we need to take."

Taxpayers spent almost £1bn last year on managing and removing foreign criminals from the UK, the NAO report said. This equates to around £70,000 per case.

The Government's spending watchdog warned that one in six foreign national offenders living in the community - or 760 out of 4200 - had absconded, including 58 "high harm" individuals who had been missing since 2010.

The watchdog also said the UK Government had made "little progress" in dealing with foreign criminals since 2006.

Labour's Yvette Cooper said that despite the PM emphasising that the deportation of more foreign criminals was a "major priority" for the Coalition, fewer were being deported each year than had been expelled in 2010.