Reform UK leader’s Proposal To Expel Asylum Seekers Branded Unrealistic, Unlawful

Nigel Farage has unveiled a sweeping plan to deport hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, including women and children, in what he calls “Operation Restoring Justice”. But the proposals have been met with intense criticism from lawyers, human rights groups, and political leaders, who warn the scheme is both unworkable and dangerous.

According to The Guardian, to Speaking at a press conference in Oxford, the Reform UK leader pledged to detain “absolutely anyone” who arrived in Britain by small boats and deport them to countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea and Sudan. Farage offered no detail on how such agreements would be secured, given that many of these countries have no return treaties with the UK and are deemed unsafe by British courts.

Pressed on logistics, he was unable to identify RAF bases that could be converted into detention centres, nor explain how the programme would be funded. While independent costings suggested such a mass deportation scheme would cost £47.5bn over five years, Farage claimed he could achieve it for just £10bn without providing evidence.

George Peretz KC, as cited by Indian Express, chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, dismissed the plans as “simply not rooted in reality”, noting that negotiating deportation deals with regimes like the Taliban would be “impractical and extremely concerning”.Kolbassia Haoussou of Freedom from Torture said the UK would be “abandoning one of humanity’s clearest moral lines” by sending people fleeing torture back to repressive regimes.

Human rights lawyer Adam Wagner KC added that Farage’s promise to repeal the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was fundamentally misleading: “Many of these protections — freedom of religion, the right not to be tortured — are rooted in British common law.”

Downing Street, as per reports by BBC, accused Farage of not being “serious”, warning that leaving the ECHR would undermine the Good Friday Agreement and destabilise UK security partnerships. A spokesperson said: “Anyone proposing to renegotiate the Good Friday agreement is not serious.”

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, according to the Print, also tore into the plans, arguing they “crumble under the most basic scrutiny”. She added: “The idea that Reform is going to magic up places to detain hundreds of thousands of people and deport them to countries who haven’t agreed to take them is taking the public for fools. Winston Churchill would be turning in his grave.”