Britain is broken. These words are uttered with increasing regularity by millions of voters for the simple reason that they happen to be true.
Fourteen years of Conservative rule placed the country on a perilous path. Under the Tories, taxes and immigration rocketed. Despite the taxman helping himself to ever greater sums of your money, the UK’s infrastructure creaked. By the time Rishi Sunak‘s administration was toppled last July, the electorate was crying out for change.
What is both depressing and deeply troubling is that after almost a year in office, it’s apparent that Sir Keir Starmer‘s Labour Party has no clue how to improve the situation. On the contrary, Starmer and his crew seem hell bent on making things even worse.
Reform UK is the only political party that understands this and is ready to fix Britain in a lasting way. Make no mistake: we are best placed to hold Starmer to account. I say this on the basis that to back the Tories at the ballot box these days is to waste your vote. The party of Churchill and Thatcher is a shadow of itself. It has betrayed the millions who supported it in good faith. Reform UK is the party with momentum. Successive opinion polls show as much.
Turfing out this rotten Labour government is a step-by-step process for Reform UK and this week’s local elections represent a key stage in that vital task before we focus on the next general election.
On Thursday we will field more candidates than any other party. This is a testament to our professionalism and a clear demonstration of our commitment to the concerns of the wider electorate.
Both Labour and the Tories have a dire record in local government. Wherever they are in charge council taxes have risen, bins have overflowed (if they are collected at all), crime has risen and potholes have gone unfilled. Some councils have even gone bust, a sure sign of them playing fast and loose with tax-payers’ money. Reform UK knows that people deserve better.
High immigration – both legal and illegal – is of enormous concern to voters everywhere. This is because throughout the 21st century, Britain has failed to enforce its immigration laws and has disregarded the integrity of its borders.
Reform UK is the only political party that understands this and is ready to fix Britain in a lasting way. Pictured: Nigel Farage at a boxing centre in Hull yesterday
High immigration – both legal and illegal – is of enormous concern to voters everywhere. Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness beach in Kent in October 2022
It’s worth saying that deportations on the scale we envisage do have recent precedent. By the end of Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House he had earned himself the title ‘Deporter in Chief’. Pictured: Barack Obama in December last year
Staggeringly, an estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants now live here. The true number may be even greater. The knock-on effects of hosting these uninvited guests are felt in all communities. Schools, hospitals, public transport and roads are overcrowded, making life harder for everybody.
What it boils down to is this: decent Britons who work hard and do the right thing are subsidising those who have not paid into the system. This is neither just nor sustainable.
That is why Reform UK’s policy team has drafted a comprehensive strategy for the deportation of illegal migrants. Our plan is difficult but achievable. It is firm but fair. As Prime Minister, I will ensure our country operates a zero tolerance policy for illegal residence.
All measures will be legally robust under British laws. They will also be administratively feasible. Special legislative provisions will be used to overcome legal barriers.
Under this new legal framework, Britain will leave the European Convention on Human Rights – the mechanism by which so many illegal immigrants are able to stay in Britain. In its place will be a British Bill of Rights.
We have also drafted legislation to strike out certain articles of other international treaties which have been used to frustrate attempts to deport those who are here illegally.
Specific clauses will ensure that no legally-based asylum or human rights claim can delay removals. UK courts will no longer be able to halt deportations by reference to global agreements that work against the interests of the British people.
Reform UK will negotiate bilateral agreements to facilitate returns. We will also make sure that enforcement officers identify, detain, and then remove illegal immigrants by charter flight on a high frequency schedule.
What is both depressing and deeply troubling is that after almost a year in office, it’s apparent that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has no clue how to improve the situation. Pictured: Starmer in October last year
Staggeringly, an estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants now live here. The true number may be even greater. Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, in October 2023
New agreements with origin and third party countries will ensure there are destinations to where all individuals, including those from war-torn states, can be removed. Crucially, appeals and legal challenges will be allowed only after removal.
The cost of this will be significant but in the longer term it represents a massive saving. Allowing illegal immigrants to stay here indefinitely would be more expensive. The current annual accommodation budget for housing asylum seekers is around £4bn – £5bn. This must end.
Our plan represents a decisive break with the sort of half-measures that have been wheeled out by Labour and the Tories. It draws on international precedents such as those used by Australia and propos-es new ideas adapted to the UK’s specific circumstances.
It’s worth saying that deportations on the scale we envisage do have recent precedent. By the end of Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House he had earned himself the title ‘Deporter in Chief’ after the removal from America of more than 3 million ‘noncitizens’ between 2009 and 2017. Even Labour Minister David Blunkett deported large numbers of illegal migrants in the Blair years.
A Reform UK government will show an unflinching resolve to deporting Britain’s growing number of illegal immigrants within five years of winning the next general election.
In doing so, the social contract in British society will be restored, the British taxpayer will save tens of billions of pounds, and our country will once again be governed by the rule of law.
