Farage sets out plan to shut UK asylum system for five years

Reform UK has set out plans to close the UK asylum system for up to five years if it wins the next general election. The party says it would refuse all new asylum applications, cancel existing claims, and scrap the asylum tribunal system. Legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes would end. Around 90,000 people who are waiting for decisions or who have outstanding asylum and humanitarian protection appeals would be deported instead of having their cases heard.

Nigel Farage, the party leader, said the country was in 'the most terrible mess' and that Britain could not afford the risk. He described the asylum system as a scam and said the priority should be British people. Reform says it would remove people already in the UK as well as those arriving in future. It has previously said it would deport hundreds of thousands of people who are in the country illegally.

To carry out removals, Reform says it would pressure other countries to accept returns. Measures could include visa bans, flight bans, tariffs, and restrictions on airlines. It has also suggested targeting assets of nationals from countries that refuse. The party accepts some people may be sent to third countries, particularly where it is unclear where they are from or where return would be unsafe. It has not named those countries. Reports noted possible echoes of the abandoned Rwanda scheme.

Legal challenges and feasibility are central. Critics question whether cancelling appeals is lawful or safe, and whether other countries would accept large numbers of deportees. The plan would need working bilateral relations and enough removal capacity. There are also questions about cost, the treatment of genuine refugees, and the UK's international obligations.

Labour called the plans a sign of desperation and weakness. A Labour figure said Farage was casting around for increasingly extreme policies and running away from basic decency. Labour pointed to lower small boat crossings over the last summer and to 80,000 deportations of people without the right to be here. It said people fleeing persecution who have a right to stay should receive legal protection.

The Conservatives said Reform was largely copying existing Conservative policy. They pointed to their own Borders Plan, which would end tribunal cases for immigration and asylum, create a border force and removals force, and deport people who arrive illegally, with a target of seven days and an ambition of 24 hours. A Conservative representative said: 'no ifs, no buts, no maybes. If you arrive in this country illegally, you should never be able to stay.'

Reform's home affairs spokesman went further in broadcast interviews. He said everyone in the country illegally should be deported and that the asylum backlog would be cleared by removing all claimants. He put the number of people in the UK illegally at more than a million and described the plan as the biggest mass deportation programme the country has ever seen. He cited returns to countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan, and said the UK could use foreign aid and visas as leverage.

Broadcast discussion also raised practical and political hurdles. One commentator said the policy was aimed at a domestic electorate but would be difficult to apply in government because countries must agree to take deportees. He warned that mass removals could involve ICE-style operations and change the character of the country. Others defended stricter border control, saying the system was unfair and that British citizens should come first.

Separately, comments by a senior figure associated with Reform about deploying Royal Marines in the Channel and using lethal force against people smugglers caused a row. Allies said the remarks were aimed at traffickers, not migrants, but critics said they were extreme. The asylum closure plan remains the party's central announcement. Immigration is set to remain a major political battleground.