Presumption for Deportation?

Christopher Booker pointed out HERE that

"Prior to his sacking, Charles Clarke, while attempting to defend his record on the handling of immigrant criminals, had blithely promised new legislation to create a "presumption for deportation" of any foreigner found guilty of an imprisonable offence. (This was later endorsed by Gordon Brown on the Today programme.)

If the Tories were honest, they should immediately have pointed out that the UK Government no longer has the power to do any such thing. It is simply not permissible, thanks to a combination of the European Convention on Human Rights and various EU directives, not least that which came into force only last week, 2004/38, which, for the first time, explicitly lays down, as one of the "fundamental objectives of the Union", that EU citizens and their families should now have an absolute right to take up permanent residence in whichever EU state they wish (and to enjoy all its social benefits)."