Nigel Farage promises mass deportation of asylum-seekers if Reform UK elected
The article reports on Nigel Farage, leader of the British Reform UK party, who has pledged to implement mass deportations of approximately 600,000 illegal migrants within five years if his party is elected. Speaking at a press event in a hangar at Oxford Airport, Farage declared a firm stance against what he called the ongoing “invasion” of asylum-seekers crossing into the UK, particularly those arriving via small boats across the English Channel. He criticized the current asylum system as being too lenient and announced plans to withdraw the UK from key international agreements such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention to enable stricter immigration controls.
Farage emphasized that the country remains open to genuine refugees but argued that most recent arrivals do not meet the traditional refugee definition. The plan includes detaining and deporting anyone entering illegally to remove incentives for crossing by sea. While some politicians express humanitarian concerns, there is a growing consensus that illegal immigration must be addressed.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shifted towards stricter immigration enforcement but criticized Farage’s proposals as unrealistic and cautioned against undermining international agreements like the Good Friday Agreement. conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Farage of adopting Conservative immigration policies, noting they had already introduced effective deportation measures.
Farage appears confident that Reform UK could trigger an early election, citing low approval ratings for Starmer’s management. The article highlights ongoing political debates in the UK regarding immigration enforcement and the future of immigration policy under potential Reform UK leadership.
Nigel Farage promises mass deportation of asylum-seekers if Reform UK elected
Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage promised to end the “invasion” of asylum-seekers with mass deportations and remigration policies if elected.
Farage, who previously opposed mass remigration in the United Kingdom as a “political impossibility,” spoke from a hangar at Oxford Airport in London as he announced his policy plan to deport approximately 600,000 illegal migrants in a five-year window.
“It’s this gradual drift to just accepting that everything goes well. We’re not accepting it,” he said. “And I’ll tell you what, there’s a big silent majority out there who are not accepting it either, and they are crying out. They are desperate to have some leadership that’s got some courage.”
“This country has taken half a million refugees since the Brexit referendum. This country is not closed-minded to groups that genuinely face persecution, to groups that genuinely are refugees,” he said. “We just don’t believe by any traditional definitions of a refugee, we just don’t believe those people crossing the English Channel, or at least very few of them, tick that box.”
The venue was outfitted with a mock “deportation departures” board displaying the slogan “illegal migrants boarding.”
To establish the legal framework necessary to gut the U.K.’s asylum system, Reform UK intends to withdraw the country from international agreements such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations’s 1951 Refugee Convention.
Farage characterized these steps as part of a “credible plan, so that we can deport hundreds of thousands of people over the five years of a Reform government.”
Just under 30,000 illegal migrants have arrived in the U.K. via small boats this year — approximately 659 individuals in nine boats on Monday alone, according to the Independent. This marked a 50% increase since the same point in 2024.
“The only way we’ll stop the boats is by detaining and deporting absolutely anyone who comes via that route,” Farage said. “And if we do that, the boats will stop coming in days because there will be no incentive.”
While some critics oppose the Reform UK plan on humanitarian grounds, there is a growing consensus in the British political class that the rampant influx of illegal immigrants cannot be ignored.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in many ways an arch-progressive, made a hard pivot toward curbing illegal arrivals earlier this year.
A spokesman for the prime minister told reporters that while mass migration is a real problem, Farage’s party has failed to provide practical solutions and hasn’t offered a realistic path forward.
“Let’s be clear, the ECHR underpins key international agreements on trade, security, migration, and the Good Friday agreement. Anyone who is proposing to renegotiate the Good Friday agreement is not serious,” the spokesman said.
He continued, “We’re focused on the very serious policies to address this issue rather than a return to the gimmicks, the slogans, the chaos of the previous government.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Reform UK is “copying our homework” on immigration, adding that the only parts of the policy platform that were workable were those similar to the Conservatives’ positions.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Badenoch said. “We put out a deportation bill in May. The stuff that actually works in what he said has come from there.”
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Farage seems to believe that his party will not need to wait out a full government term before the next election. When asked what is being done for people who don’t want to wait another four years until Reform UK has a shot at leading the government, he replied, “Four years to the next election, do you really think so?”
Starmer’s government has sunk to a dismal 23% approval rating this month, according to a poll from YouGov.
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