Nigel Farage has unveiled Reform UK's mass deportation plan for asylum seekers arriving on small boats, proposing detention centres housing 24,000 people and five charter flights leaving the UK daily. The Clacton MP said the scheme could see hundreds of thousands of people deported if his party entered government.
The plan includes immediate arrest of all small boat arrivals, automatic detention and forced deportation to countries including Afghanistan and Eritrea. Reform UK also proposes building detention centres and establishing deals with third countries, potentially reviving the Conservative Party's Rwanda plan or agreements with Albania.
Legal framework overhaul
The first step would involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and scrapping the Human Rights Act. This would be followed by legislation barring those arriving on small boats from claiming asylum in the UK.
Farage said: "The aim of this legislation is mass deportations. We have a massive crisis in Britain. It is not only posing a national security threat but it's leading to public anger that frankly is not very far away from disorder."
Record crossings fuel crisis
Nearly 28,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year, representing a record for this point in the calendar since data collection began in 2018. Sir Keir Starmer's Government is struggling with rising tensions over hotels housing asylum seekers.
A temporary injunction was granted to Epping Forest District Council to remove asylum seekers from the Bell Hotel in Epping. The Home Office announced on Friday it would appeal against the High Court's refusal to allow it to intervene in the case.
Councils across the country controlled by Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK are considering similar legal challenges following the Epping precedent. A wave of protests outside hotels used to temporarily house asylum seekers is expected in the coming days.
Government response
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers are working to close hotels housing asylum seekers "as swiftly as possible" as part of an "orderly" programme that avoids creating problems for other areas. The Government has pledged to crack down on smuggling gangs to deter Channel crossings.
South Norfolk Council confirmed it had been informed that the Home Office intends to stop housing asylum seekers at the Park Hotel in Diss. Council leader Daniel Elmer said: "The Home Office thought it could just impose this change and that we would accept it."
Political reaction
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp dismissed the proposals as recycled Tory ideas. He said: "This big reveal is just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced. Nigel Farage previously claimed mass deportations were impossible, and now he says it's his policy."
The announcement comes as tensions escalate over asylum accommodation, with the Home Office maintaining its legal obligation to provide housing for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
