British citizens will be given priority over foreigners under Nigel Farage’s plans to scrap the Human Rights Act, one of Reform UK’s most senior figures has said.
On Tuesday Farage will unveil plans to enable the arrest, detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of people who come to the UK in small boats.
Under the plans, the UK would formally withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and other international agreements. The Human Rights Act, which enshrines the convention in British law, would be replaced by a British Bill of Rights which would only apply to British citizens and those who had a legal right to live in the UK.
The legislation would not include any reference to human rights but instead refer to terms such as protection of liberty and free speech.
Zia Yusuf, a senior ally of Farage, said: “It will have nothing in it to help activist judges to stop flights taking off. It will prioritise the rights of British citizens over foreign ones. We are not going to flinch. We’re not going to be intimidated. We are going to deliver for the British people. It’s the only way to restore this country. To stop the invasion from happening.”
• Reform UK will pledge five deportation flights a day
Farage said that the bill of rights would include “the freedom to do everything, unless there’s a law that says you can’t”. He added: “The opposite to that is the concept of human rights, which are state given. We have got academics working on it. There is a huge amount to do.”
Angela Eagle, Labour’s border security minister, suggested Farage’s plans were out of touch with reality
JULIE EDWARDS/ALAMY
Under Farage’s plans people who come to the UK would have no right to claim asylum. They would be arrested and detained in facilities built on disused military bases.
Reform will seek to strike deals with the biggest countries of origin for asylum seekers, including Afghanistan and Eritrea, despite concerns about their human rights record.
There would be a “fallback” option of sending people to British Overseas Territories such as Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
Reform will also seek to sign deals with third countries such as Rwanda and Albania for those it cannot return to their country of origin.
Farage said he would deploy a “carrot and stick” approach, with a six-month window for people to return voluntarily. The government would give them £2,500 for doing so and pay for the cost of their flight. The party said it would develop a “deportation app” so migrants could “self-deport”.
The party claims that the approach will cost £10 billion and ultimately save the government money. However there are significant questions about the practicality, legality and cost of the plans.
• Record 111,000 claims from asylum seekers in Labour’s first year
Yusuf said: “It’s a huge undertaking. We think it’s absolutely necessary. The country is in a state when it has totally lost control of its borders.
“The British people have had more than enough. It’s a national security emergency. It’s also a fiscal emergency. If you take the cost of accommodation and the cost of asylum seekers you get to north of £7 billion. This has to be done. It has to work. This is a pretty transformative legal reset we’re doing here.”
He claimed that the boats would stop coming to the UK “immediately”.
Angela Eagle, Labour’s border security minister, said: “Nigel Farage is simply plucking numbers out of the air, another pie in the sky policy from a party that will say anything for a headline.
“We are getting a grip of the broken asylum system. Making sure those with no right to be here are removed or deported.”
Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said: “This big reveal is just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced.
“Nigel Farage previously claimed mass deportations were impossible, and now he says it’s his policy,” Philp added. “Who knows what he’ll say next.”