Nigel Farage has claimed there is a “genuine threat to public order” without action to tackle illegal migration, as he laid out Reform UK’s plans to crack down on small boats crossing the English Channel. The Reform UK leader promised “mass deportations” of people in Britain illegally if his party is elected at the next general election.
Launching the so-called “Operation Restoring Justice” programme at London Oxford Airport on Tuesday, Mr Farage said: “The mood in the country around this issue is a mix between total despair and rising anger. Without action, without somehow the contract between the Government and the people being renewed, without some trust coming back, then I fear deeply that that anger will grow. In fact, I think there is now, as a result of this, a genuine threat to public order.”
Reform’s Zia Yusuf said the party would introduce a “five-year emergency program to track down, detain and deport all illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom”, removing some 600,000 people over the course of a parliament. The plans include leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and “disapplying” other treaties, offering migrants £2,500 plus flight costs to return voluntarily, and creating detention camps for those entering illegally.
Mr Yusuf added that Reform UK would create a “data fusion centre” drawing together data from police, the Home Office, NHS, DVLA, HMRC and banks to “relentlessly track down and detain all those who entered our country illegally”. A Reform government would prioritise securing return agreements, stopping aid and visas for countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants.
Mr Farage claimed the plans would save “tens and possibly even hundreds of billions of pounds” in the decades ahead and stop small boats coming “within days”. Downing Street rejected his claims of impending civil disorder, with the Prime Minister’s spokesman saying the Government is taking “serious practical action” rather than “old gimmicks”.
