Reform UK plans payment for countries to accept deported asylum seekers

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged tougher action on illegal immigration, with plans that could see women and children asylum seekers detained and deported.

The party said its new approach would place a duty on the home secretary to remove anyone arriving illegally, ban them from ever seeking asylum, and take the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights.

Zia Yusuf, head of Reform’s government efficiency department, told the BBC that the first stage of the programme would target lone adult migrants, but admitted unaccompanied children would “probably” be included later.

When asked whether the policy risked sending people back to unsafe countries, Yusuf said: “We’re not going to embark on a plan with the intent of sending anyone to that fate, but we’ve got to prioritise the British people and we make no apologies for that.”

Farage called illegal immigration a “scourge” and argued that the UK faced “a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order.”

He said, “Under these new plans, if you come to the UK illegally you will be ineligible for asylum. No ifs, no buts.”

Labour said the plans lacked detail and could not work without agreements from other countries. Government minister Matthew Pennycook asked: “What happens if Reform cannot in that scenario negotiate returns agreements with the Taliban in Afghanistan? What happens if they can’t get a returns agreement with Iran, a country currently being sanctioned by the UK?”

The Refugee Council warned that such proposals risked stripping away rights from people “genuinely fleeing torture and persecution and war”.

Official figures show nearly 28,000 people have crossed the Channel this year, with more than 50,000 arriving since Labour came to power in July 2024.

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