NIGEL FARAGE has set out plans for "mass deportations" of migrants who cross the English Channel on small boats if his Reform UK party comes to power.
Speaking to The Times on Saturday (August 23), the former Brexit campaigner said he would withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and make agreements with Afghanistan, Eritrea and other main countries of origin to repatriate illegal migrants.
"We can be nice to people, we can be nice to other countries, or we can be very tough to other countries ... I mean (US president Donald) Trump has proved this point quite comprehensively," Farage said.
ALSO READ: Starmer under fire as asylum claims hit record high
When asked if he was concerned that asylum seekers could face torture or death in countries with poor human rights records, Farage said he was more concerned about the risk he believed asylum seekers posed to people in Britain.
"I can't be responsible for despotic regimes all over the world. But I can be responsible for the safety of women and girls on our streets," he said.
In recent weeks, small-scale protests have taken place outside hotels housing asylum seekers, with public safety concerns heightened after some migrants were charged with sexual assault.
Polls show immigration and asylum are now viewed as the public’s biggest concern, slightly ahead of the economy. Reform UK, which won five seats in last year’s general election, has recently led in voting intention surveys.
Last year, 37,000 people – mainly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Vietnam and Eritrea – reached Britain from France by small boats. The figure was up 25 per cent from 2023 and made up 9 per cent of net migration.
According to analysis by the University of Oxford, about two-thirds of those arriving by small boats and applying for asylum are granted it, while just 3 per cent have been deported.
Farage told The Times he would end the right to claim asylum or challenge deportation for people arriving this way by replacing current human rights laws and withdrawing Britain from refugee treaties, saying there was a national emergency.
"The aim of this legislation is mass deportations," he said, adding that a "massive crisis" caused by asylum seekers was fuelling public anger.
According to The Times, Farage’s plan includes holding 24,000 migrants in facilities on air bases at a cost of 2.5 billion pounds, and running five deportation flights daily, with deportations in the hundreds of thousands.
If those measures did not succeed, asylum seekers could be moved to Ascension Island, a British territory in the South Atlantic, which Farage said would send a symbolic message.
(With inputs from agencies)
