Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, announced plans for an immediate review of all asylum claims over the last five years if it comes to power in the next general election. The decision came as a part of a major crackdown on migration to Britain.
“Today, what we announce is not just that anyone that continues to come illegally will not be allowed to stay under a Reform government, but that we will go back five years and review all asylum applications. And if there is a belief those applications have been granted because they are bogus, a belief those applications have been granted because the British government feels, both Conservative and Labour, that really their only option is just to wave everybody through, and also if we can see that it is a deliberate, willful misapplication of the good intentions of the Human Rights Act, then those asylum claims will be revoked and people told, ‘You’ve come via this route, you will not be allowed to stay’,” Farage explained.
The plan aims to target anybody granted asylum, overstaying a visa, or from a country deemed safe by the Reform government. Farage predicted a long-term net benefit of ‘telephone numbers’ through calculations exhibited by Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman.
“We will do what it takes to restore justice in Britain,” said Yusuf.
Reform UK estimated around 400,000 people to be liable for deportation under the plan by the party’s new agency called the UK Deportation Command. However, the party has distanced the UK Deportation Command from the US’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency which faced public criticism over its involvement in high-profile shootings and killings during the past year. Reform stated that the UK did not have the same issues with guns and policing.
Farage emphasised that the plan would mean removing the Human Rights Act and called for disapplying the 1951 convention relating to the status of refugees. The convention defines the term ‘refugee’, describes their rights and the international standards of treatment for their protection.
