Reform UK would pay countries for migrant return deals
Nigel Farage has unveiled sweeping proposals to detain and deport hundreds of thousands of people who arrive in Britain without authorisation, insisting it is the “only way” to end small boat crossings.
At a press conference, the Reform UK leader announced a five-year plan that would bar anyone arriving on small boats from claiming asylum and make it mandatory to remove them permanently.
“The only way we can stop the boats is to detain and deport absolutely everyone who comes via that route,” Mr Farage said. “If we do that, the boats will stop coming in days, because there will be no reward.”
Reform UK claims the scheme would cost £10bn over five years but ultimately save money by ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers. The party said it would make £2bn available for “returns contracts” with countries including Afghanistan and Eritrea, combining aid incentives with potential sanctions for states that refuse to co-operate.
Senior Reform UK figure Zia Yusuf confirmed the party believes it can deport 600,000 people within a single parliament. Migrants would be arrested on arrival, detained at disused RAF bases, and deported to their countries of origin. Where that was not possible, Reform suggested they could be sent to Rwanda, Albania or even Ascension Island.
The party said deportation flights would rise to five per day, while new remote detention centres could hold up to 24,000 people within 18 months. Migrants choosing to return voluntarily would be charged £2,500 as part of a “carrot and stick” approach.
Legal and political clash ahead
Reform’s Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill would make deportation a legal duty for the home secretary, bar those removed from ever re-entering the UK, and override international agreements such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The party proposes to scrap the Human Rights Act altogether and replace it with a British Bill of Rights applying only to citizens and legal residents.
Labour dismissed the plan as “unworkable”. Housing minister Matthew Pennycook asked:
“What happens if Reform isn’t able to reach peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan?”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Reform of rehashing Conservative ideas:
“We’ve already put forward plans to disapply the Human Rights Act and deport every unlawful immigrant on arrival. Reform hasn’t done the hard work needed to get a grip on this crisis.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the proposals “crumbled under the most basic scrutiny”, arguing that it was “misleading” to suggest Reform could “magic up new detention centres and deportation deals.”
Pressure from small boat crossings
The debate comes amid record Channel crossings. More than 28,000 people have made the journey in small boats so far this year, up 46% on the same period in 2024. A total of 111,000 asylum applications were lodged in the year to June.
Labour, which won power last year, has pledged to target people-smuggling gangs. Last month the UK and France agreed to trial a “one in, one out” system, under which Britain would return certain migrants while accepting an equal number of vetted asylum seekers from France.
