Nigel Farage will today set out plans for the mass deportation of illegal migrants – less than a year after he branded such proposals as an ‘impossibility’.
In a speech this morning, the Reform UK leader will vow that – if he becomes PM – all those arriving in Britain on small boats will be detained and then deported.
He will pledge to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and scrap the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the convention in UK law.
Mr Farage will promise to sign migrant returns deals with countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea, but also house migrants in ‘third countries’ such as Rwanda and Albania.
Under Reform’s plans, British overseas territories such as Ascension Island will be used as a’fallback’ option for sending migrants.
Yet Mr Farage is set to be challenged over his remarks in September last year, in which he claimed mass deportations of illegal migrants was ‘literally impossible to do’.
He told GB News shortly after becoming an MP: ‘For us, at the moment, it’s a political impossibility. I’m not going to get dragged down the route of mass deportations or anything like that.
‘If I say I support mass deportations, that’s all anybody will talk about for the next 20 years. So it’s pointless even going there.
‘It’s a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can’t do it.’
Nigel Farage will set out plans for the mass deportation of illegal migrants – less than a year after he branded such proposals as an ‘impossibility’
Zia Yusuf, one of Reform’s most senior figures, was challenged about Mr Farage’s past comments prior to his party leader’s speech
Zia Yusuf, one of Reform’s most senior figures, was challenged about Mr Farage’s past comments prior to his party leader’s speech.
‘His view on that clearly has decisively changed because of the facts on the ground and the fact that we’ve now done the work that this not only can be done, it must be done,’ Mr Yusuf told BBC Breakfast.
‘The social contract in this country is hanging by a thread.’
Mr Yusuf said Reform would set up a new agency called the ‘deportation command’ and that, under the plans, those who have entered the UK illegal would be detained and ‘not be allowed to roam around inside the community’.
‘And this is a temporary programme, so regardless where they are, regardless of the accommodation, they will be gone at the end of Nigel’s first term,’ he added.
He said ‘phase one’ would focus on adults and that unaccompanied children would be sent back ‘probably be towards the latter half of that five years’.
Mr Farage will use his speech this morning to pledge that hundreds of thousands of people will be deported by a Reform government, with five charter flights taking off every day.
There will also be a ‘deportation app’ for migrants who wish to leave voluntarily, and they will be given £2,500 and a free flight home.
He will set out details of the costs today, amid reports that the party believes it will cost as little as £10 billion to implement and will in the long run save public money.
His government would introduce emergency legislation known as the Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill to bar those arriving by small boat from claiming asylum.
A group of people, believed to be migrants, are pictured on a small boat near Gravelines, northern France
An aerial photograph shows inflatable dinghies believed to have been used by migrants to cross the Channel and stored in a Port Authority yard in Dover
Mr Farage will challenge Sir Keir Starmer to ditch his support for foreign courts, asking the Prime Minister if he wants to protect Britain’s borders and citizens or remain wedded to ‘outdated’ international treaties and judges’ rulings.
Leaving the ECHR is a demand now even being made by Labour MPs and grandees as they increasingly fear Sir Keir’s failure to implement radical action over the Channel migrant crisis will lose him the next election.
A new British Bill of Rights, which would apply only to British citizens and those with a legal right to live here, would replace the Human Rights Act under Reform’s plans – and refer to the protection of free speech and liberty rather than human rights.
Last night Mr Farage, who will make his keynote speech in Oxfordshire this morning, told the Daily Mail: ‘The dividing line on this issue is simple.
‘Does the PM stand with the British people, defending our national security and the safety of women and girls or does he stand with outdated international treaties and courts?
‘Reform UK will leave the ECHR and finally stop the scourge of illegal migration.’
Mr Farage added that if Reform came into power, it would aim to build migrant detention centres on military sites within 18 months.
They would house 24,000 people and detainees would not be allowed to leave or claim bail, he added. Sir Keir has previously vowed that his Government will ‘never’ leave the ECHR.
Mr Farage accused Sir Keir of siding with international courts in an opinion piece published in the Telegraph, writing: ‘The time has come to put this country first. This is all a question of priorities.
‘Is Keir Starmer on the side of the British people, national security and protecting women and girls – or is he on the side of outdated international treaties and human rights lawyers?’.
Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed that Reform’s policy is based on many of the Conservatives’ own proposals
Earlier this year Sir Keir took the unprecedented step of declaring in the Commons that an immigration judge made the ‘wrong decision’ by granting a Palestinian family the right to live in the UK.
In the wake of the row, his Government pledged to restrict the ability of illegal immigrants and foreign criminals to avoid deportation by claiming the Article 8 right to a family life.
And at the weekend the Home Office said it would speed up asylum appeals by getting rid of some judge-led tribunals.
It comes as more than 100 migrants have been detained ahead of deportation to France, according to The Times. The move is part of Sir Keir’s ‘one in, one out’ deal which is set to be implemented within weeks.
The Tories claimed that Reform’s flagship policy is based on many of their own proposals.
When they were in power, the Conservatives passed a law banning small-boat migrants from claiming asylum and signed a deal to deport some to Rwanda, although no flights ever took off.
The Tory government was also the first to consider sending new arrivals to Ascension Island, a remote territory in the South Atlantic.
And in May, having lost the election, the party published a Deportation Bill that would mean ‘automatic deportation for anyone to arrives in the country illegally’ as well as disapplying the Human Rights Act from immigration cases.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has also launched a review which is expected to conclude that Britain should withdraw from the ECHR.
And as far back as 2006 under David Cameron, the Tories had been proposing to replace Labour’s Humans Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, an idea also now being proposed by Reform.
A similar Bill to repeal the Human Rights Act was put forward by then-justice secretary Dominic Raab in 2022, before being scrapped by Liz Truss during her short tenure as prime minister.
Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Nigel Farage promised a full deportation plan, and then after months of silence has presented nothing more than a copy-and-paste of Conservative policies.
‘Reform UK has clearly not done the serious thinking about securing our borders – instead borrowing plans set out months ago by Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives, in some desperate attempt to chase headlines.
‘But government is about more than just press releases and headlines.’
Reform UK said: ‘The Conservatives had 14 years in government. Under their watch, illegal migration surged to unprecedented levels, and the small-boats crisis in the Channel spiralled out of control. They did nothing to stop it.’
Last night, a Labour source said: ‘This is a tired rehash of the Tories’ approach which left us with record high asylum costs and declining removals. As ever, Farage is offering empty soundbites without the plans to back it up.’
