Reform UK is pledging mass deportations of asylum seekers who arrive in the UK in small boats. <\/p>\n
The party’s leader – Nigel Farage – has told The Times that there is a massive crisis in the UK, which threatens national security and could lead to public disorder.<\/p>\n
Farage’s Reform may have only four MPs but they are riding high in the polls – not least because of frustration over record-high small boats crossings. <\/p>\n
We now have more of an idea of what the party would do to tackle the issue. <\/p>\n
Labour has called the plan pie in the sky. The Conservatives said they would deliver a credible plan that would work in practice.<\/p>\n
Farage tells the Times<\/a> that if people know they will be detained and deported they will stop coming “very quickly”.<\/p>\n He wants to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights and ban small boats arrivals from claiming asylum. <\/p>\n People could be detained on disused RAF bases and returned to countries like Afghanistan and Eritrea if agreements were reached. <\/p>\n Many of these measures could face legal challenges but Reform’s leadership is convinced radical action is needed. <\/p>\n “The aim of this legislation is mass deportations,” Farage told The Times.<\/p>\n “We have a massive crisis in Britain. It is not only posing a national security threat but it’s leading to public anger that frankly is not very far away from disorder.<\/p>\n “There is only one way to stop people coming into Britain and that is to detain them and deport them.”<\/p>\n The government faces growing pressure over immigration, with a record 111,000 asylum applications made to the UK during the year to June<\/a>. <\/p>\n Figures released by the Home Office this week said that despite increased applications, spending on asylum in the UK was down by 12%. <\/p>\n The total stood at \u00a34.76bn in the year ending March 2025, down from \u00a35.38bn the previous year.<\/p>\n Small boat arrivals saw a 38% increase from the previous year, with more than half of those arrivals from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria.<\/p>\n