Nigel Farage has unveiled his plans for mass imprisonment and deportation of people who arrive in the UK illegally.
The dramatic proposals would be put in effect if Reform wins power at the next general election – though they would likely face considerable legal obstacles.
They include creating detention facilities capable of holding 24,000 people – roughly a quarter of the total current prison capacity across the UK – within 18 months.
Those people would not be permitted to leave the site before they are deported en masse.
A Reform government would scrap the Human Rights Act and drop out of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture and the anti-trafficking convention of the Council of Europe.
At an event in Oxford launching ‘Operation Restoring Justice’, Reform’s Zia Yusuf described this as a ‘non-exhaustive list’ of international agreements that the country would be ‘disapplying’ for up to five years.
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That would allow the UK to deport everyone who has entered the UK illegally – typically those who don’t have a visa – without giving them the opportunity to claim asylum.
Farage told the Sunday Times at the weekend: ‘They would be arrested and detained. They’d be put into disused military bases.
‘We would potentially need some prefab buildings put up, something like that.’
Standing in front of an enormous Union flag at today’s event, he declined to suggest any locations where these facilities could be placed, arguing the government would buy up those sites and ‘build a solar farm’.
Deportation agreements would be signed with countries including Afghanistan and Eritrea, where those who fled could be at risk of serious harm or death from despotic regimes.
Asked about the possibility, Farage said: ‘Does it bother me? Of course it bothers me, but what really bothers me is what happens on the streets of our country.’
He later added: ‘We cannot be responsible for all the sins that happen around the world, it is just not possible.’
In Oxford, Yusuf said questions over how these policies would affect women and girls who are sent back to Afghanistan are ‘bogus’ and deflected to talking about young men.
Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme this morning, the former Reform chairman said his party would be prepared to give money to the Taliban government in Afghanistan as part of a deal.
Farage later confirmed this policy would not apply to Afghan interpreters who assisted the British military.
Reform’s plans had previously attracted criticism from charities supporting people who seek safety in the UK.
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: ‘After the horrors of World War II, Britain and its allies agreed that refugees who come to our countries in search of safety should get a fair chance to apply for asylum.
‘That tradition is something we should protect, not abandon.’
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