{"id":32034,"date":"2026-05-09T06:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/32034\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T06:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:10:11","slug":"is-reform-uks-migrant-detention-centres-plan-legal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/32034\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Reform UK’s migrant detention centres plan legal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

YouGov<\/a> polling found that 45% of adults said it was not acceptable for a government to base decisions affecting individual constituencies on how voters voted \u2013 and among Reform\u2019s own supporters, 37% agreed.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, Reform\u2019s gains in the local elections mean that its policy ideas may one day make it to the statute book.<\/p>\n

So, is this idea viable?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0The reality<\/p>\n

The policy is \u201calmost certainly unlawful\u201d under current law, said Joelle Grogan, presenter of The Law Show<\/a> on BBC Radio 4 and academic co-director at the Rule of Law Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Public bodies must act within their legal powers. If they don\u2019t, anyone can challenge them in court through judicial review \u2013 on the grounds that a decision was illegal, procedurally unfair, or so irrational that no reasonable authority would have made it. Reform\u2019s policy, Grogan says, fails on all three counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is irrational \u2013 no sensible authority would make a decision to build an immigration centre<\/a> purely based on an unrelated and arbitrary reason of voters in the area,\u201d Grogan told Big Issue.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is unlawful \u2013 planning law, and immigration laws which allow government to build immigration centres do not give any authority to decide where to detain people based on the voting patterns of citizens nearby. And\u00a0it is procedurally improper: in that the planning policy is biased and considering irrelevant factors \u2013 voting \u2013 rather than relevant ones, [like] suitability of area for an immigration centre.\u201d<\/p>\n

The courts have already grappled with this kind of improper use of public power. In the 1980s, the Conservative-run Westminster Council adopted a policy of selling council homes in areas where residents were believed likely to vote Conservative \u2013 the \u201chomes for votes\u201d scandal.<\/p>\n

In Porter v Magill [2001], the House of Lords ruled that council leader Dame Shirley Porter had engaged in \u201cwilful misconduct,\u201d establishing that elected officials cannot use their powers for the electoral advantage of a political party. Reform\u2019s proposed policy, said Jeff King from University College London (UCL), \u201cwould go much further.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA court would be well-positioned to find the policy to be in bad faith,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Then there are the practical problems. Even setting aside the legal challenges, the policy would struggle. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is a \u2018green-voting area\u2019?\u201d Grogan asked. \u201cIs it a ward, a council, or a constituency? An area that has any Green majority anywhere, or has voted in a Green MP? For all the rhetoric, there are very obvious legal, political, and practical inconsistencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reform could try to legislate its way around the courts \u2013 a Commons majority could in theory pass a new act giving politicians the power to site detention centres by voting pattern<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in reality, this would face a \u201chell of a ride through parliament\u201d, said King, \u201cespecially the House of Lords, where there would be few (or no) Reform peers to defend it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, this policy is doomed for the dust heap. But as a piece of cynical politicking \u2013 designed to set up Reform as the alternative to the Greens, and to draw attention away from Nigel Farage\u2019s \u00a35 billion undeclared cryptocurrency donation<\/a> \u2013 perhaps it has succeeded. <\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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