Nigel Farage tears into 'catastrophic' £622bn cost of Britain's immigration 'Boriswave'

Georgia Pearce
Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:50:52 +0000

Nigel Farage has torn into the "catastrophic" cost of Boris Johnson's 'Boriswave' of UK migration, warning that we will be "putting around our necks an economic millstone".

Announcing his party's 'Boriswave' Inquiry alongside Reform's Home Affairs Spokesman Zia Yusuf, Mr Farage declared that there is "still something we can do" to stop the impact of the mass migration.

Speaking at a Reform UK press conference in Westminster this morning, Mr Farage said that despite "four manifesto commitments to reduce net migration to tens of thousands a year", the Tories in fact "did the opposite" in reducing the numbers.

He said: "I think we all genuinely thought that Boris Johnson as Prime Minister might do something about it. The truth is, he did the opposite with the Boriswave.

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"I've been campaigning on the population growth since 2004, and every time we had this debate, I've been told, Nigel, don't worry your little head, because it's good for the economy, it's good for GDP, it's good for growth, and it's good for the economy."

Warning of the staggering cost Britons face if millions who arrived under the 'Boriswave' are given indefinite leave to remain, the Reform leader made clear that it will be "catastrophic" for the country.

He said: "There is still something we can do about this Boriswave, but if over a couple of million people get indefinite leave to remain over the course of the next 18 months, we will be putting around our necks an economic millstone that, frankly, will be catastrophic.

"It can, to a large extent, still be stopped. And if we do it, it'll save every household in Britain over the coming decades up to £20,000 a year."

Taking aim at the Tories and the party's leader Kemi Badenoch, Mr Farage argued that the previous Tory Government "never believed" in implementing Brexit properly.

He told the conference: "The big arguments of the day lead back to that Brexit vote of 10 years ago, and point directly to a political class who never believed in it and never, frankly, wanted to implement it.

"And it is been quite remarkable over the course of the last 48 hours that we have a Conservative leader complaining about this, despite the fact she didn't get rid of all those 5,000 EU regulations.

"She's claiming victory over the Chagos deal, when it was that Conservative Government that entered into 11 rounds of negotiations and opened the door.

"And even now the Conservatives sounding strong on defence. Well, of course it's they that have hollowed out our defences, in particular the Royal Navy, to the current shameful level that we see."

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Detailing Reform's Boriswave report, Mr Yusuf stressed how the "unprecedented mass immigration permanently altered the culture of this country", and could cost every British household "£20,000".

He said: "It's permanently altered the fiscal trajectory of the country. It permanently altered the lives of British people against their wishes.

"They threw open our borders between January of 2021 and June 2024. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative successors issued a staggering 3.8 million long term visas, resulting in gross immigration of 4.8 million and net immigration of 2.6 million."

Warning that the impact of the Boriswave is set to "explode" economically, Mr Yusuf declared: "And while Boris Johnson is no longer prime minister, his poisonous legacy is only just beginning to unfold. In fact, the Boriswave is a ticking fiscal bomb about to explode.

"According to the Government's own figures, between 1.6 and 2.2 million Boriswave migrants are now becoming eligible to receive indefinite leave to remain and shortly after, British citizenship.

"As the report demonstrates, the cost of the Boriswave gaining ILR and then citizenship in Britain will be £622billion in real terms.

"That's three times the annual budget for the NHS, and 10 times our annual defence budget."

Delivering a message to Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Yusuf urged the Prime Minister to avoid another U-turn on his planned reforms of indefinite leave to remain, led by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

He said: "Our message is firstly to the current Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. Do not U-turn on your ILR reform.

"Your Home Secretary, to her credit, is aware of this fiscal time bomb about to explode on the British people.

"That's why she announced retrospective changes to indefinite leave to remain, to delay such grants to Boriswave migrants.

"Such a delay would give a future Reform Government a chance to deal with this properly."