Nigel Farage used a press conference at London-Oxford Airport to unveil “Operation Restoring Justice”, a Reform UK blueprint that would detain and deport everyone arriving in Britain illegally. The party says it would withdraw the country from the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act and override other international treaties that currently constrain removals. Under the plan, Reform would aim to expel up to 600,000 asylum-seekers during its first five-year term in office, flying out as many as five charter planes a day and expanding detention capacity to 24,000 places by converting former Royal Air Force bases. Women and children would be held alongside adult men. Farage put the headline cost at about £10 billion over five years, claiming net savings of £7 billion by curbing hotel use and other support, and said a £2 billion fund would be set aside to secure returns agreements with governments including Afghanistan and Iran. The proposals come as immigration tops voter concerns and small-boat crossings continue at record levels; the UK logged 108,100 asylum applications in 2024 and nearly 28,000 Channel arrivals so far this year. Reform, which has four MPs, is leading national opinion polls and seeks to position itself as the only party willing to take “drastic” action. Farage warned that failure to act risked “major civil disorder”. Labour ministers dismissed the package as an unworkable “back-of-a-fag-packet” scheme that depends on deals with regimes such as the Taliban, while Conservative figures said Reform was merely rebranding measures they had already pursued. Refugee groups and legal experts argued that quitting the ECHR would jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement, breach international obligations and saddle taxpayers with far higher costs than Reform’s estimates. Analysts also questioned the logistical feasibility of sourcing aircraft and processing removal cases quickly enough to meet the party’s deportation target.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain's hard-right Reform UK party, said Tuesday that if he wins the next election he will leave the European Convention on Human Rights and immediately detain and deport anyone who arrives in the country illegally... https://t.co/cgnlQI77NY
Why Nigel Farage’s ‘fag packet’ migrant deportation plans don’t add up https://t.co/7XPof2ge3n https://t.co/OtrA76aYMf
Britain’s hard-right Reform party vows it will mass deport migrants if it wins power https://t.co/EKlQC1G8kX https://t.co/BTixLuW7UU