- Farage pledges to suspend asylum system for up to five years
- Small boat crossings down about 40 per cent year on year
- Labour calls the policy “a clear sign of desperation”
- Reform has slipped behind Labour amid donations scandals
NIGEL FARAGE has pledged to suspend the UK’s asylum system for up to five years if Reform UK wins power at the next general election.
“We will end the asylum system for up to five years ... Because we’re in the most terrible mess as a country,” Farage said in a speech in Kent on Monday.
“We have to end this asylum scam, and we have to end this racket.”
The next general election is not due until 2029.
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Seeking asylum is a right set out in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, although governments are not obliged to grant it.
Crossings and claims falling
The pledge comes as small boat crossings across the Channel are at their lowest in years, down about 40 per cent year on year as of Sunday, following measures by successive governments.
Official figures published in August also showed asylum applications had fallen by more than a fifth over the year.
Thousands of people seeking asylum began crossing the Channel from France in small boats each year from around 2020.
Last month, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the reopening of a scheme for refugees to settle in the UK, after criticism of policies tightening the rules for migrants arriving through legal routes.
Labour: ‘a sign of desperation’
Labour called the announcement “a clear sign of desperation and weakness”.
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“Nigel Farage is casting around for more and more extreme policies as he tries to deal with scandals,” said Bridget Phillipson, the Labour Party chair.
Reform’s slide in the polls
Reform surged in the polls on a wave of anti-immigration sentiment and made significant gains at local elections in May. Until late July, it had led Labour in the polls for more than a year.
But it has since slipped behind, with Farage facing intense scrutiny over his finances and Labour enjoying a bounce under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Reform is the subject of a criminal investigation into allegations that it accepted illegal donations, which the party denies.
(With inputs from agencies)
