The number of foreign nationals being arrested by the Met Police has risen by more than 60 per cent in four years, according to figures released under Freedom of Information laws.

According to the figures, 34,956 non-UK residents were arrested by the Met in the first nine months of last year.

That's a 63 per cent rise on the 21,398 arrested in 2003.

The Met came fifth in the table of growth in foreign arrests numbers for forces across England and Wales.

According to the figures released to Channel 4, the greatest rise was in Warwickshire, where arrests rose by more than 2,000 per cent from 21 in 2003 to 447 in 2007.

Police Federation chairman Jan Berry said arresting more foreigners meant extra translation and bureaucratic costs and delays.

She said the Government needed to give police forces more money to cover the extra costs of immigration.