NIGEL Farage has today vowed to detain and deport every single illegal migrant in Britain – and ban them for life from ever returning.
The Reform UK boss unveiled his mass deportation blueprint — dubbed Operation Restoring Justice — promising detention camps, five deportation flights a day and a lifetime ban on ever coming back.
i-ImagesReform UK leader Nigel Farage unveiled his ‘Operation Restoring Justice’ during a speech in Oxfordshire[/caption]
i-ImagesReform UK leader Nigel Farage said he will stop the crisis ‘no ifs, no buts’[/caption]
PAThere have been more than 50,000 small boat crossings since Labour came to power[/caption]
He said the crackdown could see up to 600,000 people deported in the first parliament alone, with savings of £17billion over five years and more than £42billion over a decade.
In a fiery speech at an aircraft hangar in Oxfordshire, the Reform UK leader blasted the crisis as an “invasion” and as a “growing threat to our national security”.
He said: “I think there is now as a result of this a genuine threat to public order and that is the very last thing that we want and I want.”
Under his plan, Britain would quit the European Convention on Human Rights, scrap the Human Rights Act and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention – making deportation a legal duty.
He thundered: “We have to leave the ECHR, no ifs, no buts.
“It may have been a good idea 80 years ago. Frankly, it isn’t today.
“We have to repeal the Human Rights Act of 1998 brought in by a Blair government…
“Off the back of it, we will, for a five-year period, disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention and any other barriers that can be used by lawyers in this country to prevent deportations, to prevent the right thing from happening.
“We will create a legal duty for the Home Secretary to remove those that come illegally, and crucially, we will detain all illegal migrants who come, and we will do so immediately.”
Mr Farage insisted the “only way to stop the boats is by detaining and deporting”, adding: “If we do that, the boats will stop coming within days, because there will be no incentive to pay a trafficker to get into this country.
“If you come to the UK illegally, you will be detained and deported and never, ever allowed to stay, period.
“That is our big message from today, and we are the first party to put out plans that could actually make that work.”
In a punchy speech, Mr Farage:
Branded the small boats crisis an “invasion”
Warned of a “genuine threat to public order”
Promised to leave the ECHR, “no ifs, no buts”
Vowed that “if you come here illegally, you will be detained immediately”
Insisted that “the only way to stop the boats is by detaining and deporting”
Senior Reform figure Zia Yusuf later spelt out the detail of Operation Restoring Justice.
He vowed illegal arrivals would be banned for life from ever coming back, with re-entry after deportation made a criminal offence carrying up to five years in jail.
Deliberately destroying identity papers would also be made a crime with the same penalty.
He promised sweeping new powers for the Home Secretary to hold migrants until removal, stripping courts and lawyers of the ability to block flights.
He said: “With Nigel as Prime Minister, not a single lawyer nor judge that will be able to stop a deportation flight.”
The plan would also create a new UK Deportation Command to relentlessly track down migrants, backed by a “fusion centre” sharing data between the police, NHS, DVLA, HMRC and banks.
Camps would hold 24,000 migrants at once, allowing 288,000 deportations a year.
The Promises are Big
By RYAN SABEY, Deputy Political Editor
Nigel Farage has set out his “I’ll stop at nothing” plans to tackle illegal immigration.
This is the plan the Reform UK say will help stop the small boats crisis within days of being enacted.
He is ready to get a mandate for his big, bold plans and put it into practice – even prepared to pay the Taliban to take back migrants.
Nigel Farage spent an hour on the subject with a speech and questions as he set out his stall at an Oxfordshire airfield.
The promises are big as he says 600,000 migrants will be deported in the first five years of a Reform government.
Five flights a day will take off taking these migrants back to their home countries – saving possibly hundreds of billions over time.
But as he sets out these policies and the detail, it will allow both Labour and the Tories to look through the detail and expose any flaws.
But while the parties argue among the detail over leaving the European Convention of Human Rights, there will be growing support from the public as the issue fails to be tackled.
He said this morning that the growing anger here is a “threat to public order”.
As we have seen at protests outside migration hotels across the country, this disquiet will only grow.
Farage is comfortable talking on migration – now Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch need to find their own answers to one of the biggest questions for voters.
Flights would leave five times a day, with RAF planes on standby to ensure no flight could ever be stopped or delayed.
Countries refusing to take back their nationals would face visa bans and even sanctions.
Mr Yusuf added: “This is not just a national security emergency.
“It’s a fiscal emergency too.
“Right now, Britain is spending more than seven billion pounds every year on the costs of illegal immigration, and that excludes the huge cost items like the burden on the NHS.
“Billions are spent on hotels, community housing and welfare for those who have no respect for our laws.
“Those who obey the rules are forced to pay for those who break them.
“The cost of deporting those who are here illegally will be $10 billion pounds over five years, but in that same period, our plan will save the taxpayer over £ 17 billion.
“So the next saving to the British taxpayer will be very, very significant over five years.
“And over a decade, the savings will exceed £42 billion pounds.
“That is money that is returned to hard working families, to our schools, to our NHS and to rebuilding Britain’s prosperity. “
Earlier this morning, Mr Yusuf also explained how his party would persuade countries like Afghanistan to take back illegal migrants.
He told the BBC: “We have a £2 billion budget to offer countries”.
Mr Yusuf argued the money would not be “a drop in the ocean” for countries like Afghanistan and Eritrea, adding: “British people have had enough of their goodwill being taken advantage of.”
He went on: “The notion that Afghans top the list in terms of foreign nationals crossing the Channel illegally, the majority of them fighting-age males, into this country while this country gives £151 million in aid to Afghanistan?
“We don’t think that’s fair.”
Nigel Farage’s Plan To Stop The Boats
Quit the European Convention on Human Rights – “no ifs, no buts.”
Scrap the Human Rights Act 1998.
Suspend the 1951 Refugee Convention and other legal barriers for five years.
Impose a legal duty on the Home Secretary to remove illegal arrivals.
Detain all illegal migrants immediately on arrival.
Deport every illegal migrant – with a permanent ban on staying in the UK.
He pointed to Germany having returned a limited number of Afghan nationals earlier this year who entered the country illegally and went on to commit crimes.
Minister Matthew Pennycook criticised the plans as “unworkable gimmicks”.
It comes as the Government prepares to send back the first small boat arrivals to France under the one in, one out migrant deal.
A record 28,288 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year so far, after 212 people did so on Sunday in four boats, making the total 46 per cent more than by the same date in 2024.
Further boats were seen embarking on the dangerous journey on Monday, though the official number of those who made the crossing has not yet been published.
Sir Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure from his own MPs demanding tougher action.
Backbencher Jonathan Brash told The Sun: “The British people expect our borders to be secure and they are rightly angry at the situation on our south coast.
“If the Government’s current measures don’t end the boat crossings, then we must go further and faster, including declaring a national emergency if necessary and closing our country to all asylum claims except for unaccompanied children.
“The message must be crystal clear, if you cross the Channel illegally, you will be detained and returned immediately.
“No loopholes, no delays, no excuses.
“We must restore control of our borders because that is what the public demand.”
Veteran Labour MP Graham Stringer echoed his comments, saying: “We need to persuade people who are coming here in the belief they will be allowed to stay and get priority in terms of housing and healthcare that this won’t be the case.
” And if that means withdrawing from international treaties, then so be it.”
He also warned: “It will be very difficult to win the next election if we don’t solve the problem of illegal immigrants being given the right to stay.”
Jo White, leader of Labour’s Red Wall caucus, also urged tougher action, telling the BBC: “I firmly believe that if we don’t sort it, then Labour are under threat at the next general election.
“So I want this government to look at every solution possible. And I’m very, very keen that Britain does take a look at what (Denmark) is doing, and looks at the same techniques that they’re using.”
Denmark has pursued some of the toughest asylum policies in Europe, including plans to process claims in third countries, tighter rules on residency and benefits, and measures aimed at discouraging new arrivals.
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