The British leader will scrap existing human rights laws and remove the right to apply for asylum for those arriving in small boats, separating the UK from refugee agreements
Staff reporter, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV report
London: Amid growing public concern in Britain, former Brexit leader Nigel Farage has announced that his party, Reform UK, will mass deport migrants arriving in small boats if it comes to power.
Former Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage announced that if his party, Reform UK, forms the next government in Britain, he will mass deport migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Farage said he would withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and make deals with Afghanistan, Eritrea and other countries that receive large numbers of refugees to send back illegal immigrants.
Farage said we can be nice to others and we can be very tough, he said (US President Donald) Trump has proven this in a very comprehensive way.
When asked if he was concerned that refugees could face murder or torture if they were sent back to countries with poor human rights records, Farage said he was more concerned about the risks to the British people.
He said he could not be responsible for the authoritarian governments of the world, but he was responsible for the safety of women and girls on his streets.
There have been small-scale protests outside hotels hosting refugees in the UK recently, fuelled in part by public safety concerns, particularly after allegations of sexual assault against some migrants.
Widespread opinion polls show that immigration and asylum are the biggest public concerns, ahead of the economy.
Reform UK, which won five seats in last year’s general election, has been leading in recent opinion polls.
Last year, 37,000 people, mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Vietnam and Eritrea, arrived in the UK from France by small boat, a quarter more than in 2023 and accounting for 9% of total net migration.
According to figures from the University of Oxford, around two-thirds of people arriving by small boat and applying for asylum are successful, while only three percent are deported.
Farage told The Times that he would scrap existing human rights laws and remove the right of small boat arrivals to apply for asylum or challenge deportation, by removing the UK from the refugee agreements, as it is a national emergency.
Farage said the legislation was aimed at mass deportations.
He added that the huge refugee crisis was fuelling public anger.
According to The Times, Farage wants to set up a facility to hold 24,000 refugees at airports, costing £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion), and operate five deportation flights a day, to send hundreds of thousands of people back in total.
If this plan fails, Farage said the refugees could be held on Ascension Island, a British territory in the South Atlantic, to send a symbolic message.
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