Nigel Farage has been accused of “ugly” and “destructive” rhetoric after announcing plans to deport hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, including women and children, and paying despotic regimes such as the Taliban to take them back. The Reform UK leader unveiled his “Operation Restoring Justice” at a combative press conference in Oxford, pledging to rip up the UK’s post-war human rights commitments.
Farage said he would leave the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act, and disapply the 1951 refugee convention and the UN convention against torture. He claimed his plans would stop Channel crossings “within days” and “save tens and possibly hundreds of billions of pounds”, but offered no detail on funding or how deportation agreements would be secured with countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan.
Downing Street accused Farage of not being serious, but the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to criticise his references to irregular migration as an “invasion” and a “scourge”. The Conservatives merely accused Reform of “reheating and recycling” Tory plans. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “We really are through the looking-glass now… his populist playbook is ugly, powerful and incredibly destructive.”
Legal experts warned the plans would face significant hurdles. Adam Wagner KC, a leading human rights barrister, said British courts would likely block deportations to places where people face torture, as much of the convention rights derive from British common law. Laura Smith of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants called the proposals “a Rubicon moment” that would tear through centuries of British legal tradition.
Farage was unable to name a single RAF base to be converted into detention facilities or explain how Reform’s scheme would be funded. He argued that “over three-quarters” of small-boat arrivals were “young undocumented males” from “cultures entirely different from ours” who “pose a risk to women and girls”.
