Robert Jenrick vows to 'put Pakistan on notice' and block visas if they refuse to take back grooming gang members

Mr Jenrick threw his support behind Home Affairs Spokesman Zia Yusuf, who on Monday outlined his plan to ban visas for Pakistan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan and Syria if they refuse to accept criminals and illegal migrants from their countries.

He told host Martin Daubney: "Zia Yusuf has said if he is our Home Secretary, we will end the invasion on the coast of this country. And that is a word that many people have been squeamish about using, but it's hard to deny now, given the scale of what's happened over the last few years.

"We will do everything that is required to stop the boats. It will be clear that if you come here illegally, you will never, ever be able to claim asylum. You will never have a life in the UK. You'll be detained, you'll be deported, you'll be removed."

Central to the party's strategy is withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which the spokesman said would happen immediately upon taking office.

Mr Jenrick made clear: "Zia, if he was our Home Secretary, would get us out of the ECHR. We'd hand in our notice day one. We'd detain and deport everyone who came here illegally and would do what is necessary to keep our streets safe.

"Zia gave a very powerful speech, one that's long overdue, that the previous Conservative and now this Labour Government have always failed to tackle and shows what the Reform government would actually do to finally get a grip on these challenges."

Quizzed by host Martin Daubney on the countries Reform are planning to ban visas on, he questioned whether they would act against Pakistan in particular in light of Britain's grooming gangs crisis.

Mr Jenrick stated: "We will put Pakistan on notice. In fact, we've done so that unless they change their ways and take back these criminals, whether they're illegal migrants or foreign criminals who are in our prisons, they will not get a single visa from the United Kingdom until they change their stance.

"We've seen other countries do this, like the United States, with success. That is the only way we'll fix this, because it is a complete disgrace and an affront to our country."

He told GB News: "The Pakistani government are expecting to get £130million in foreign aid and tens of thousands of visas, and yet they won't do something as simple as take back rapists who are languishing in our prisons, taking up spaces that should be being used for criminals to keep our streets safe.

"That has to end. It will end. And we know that Zia and Nigel, as our Prime Minister, have got the courage to actually do what previous prime ministers were not prepared to do."

The spokesman also directed sharp criticism at the previous Conservative Government, describing the surge in migration during Boris Johnson's tenure as "one of the biggest betrayals of the British people in our modern history."

He traced the origins of mass migration back to Tony Blair's era but emphasised that the Tories had comprehensively failed to address the issue.

Mr Jenrick said: "These problems in many cases began under the last Conservative Government. Some go back even further to Blair, who created this era of mass migration.

"But without question, the last Conservative Government failed, and in particular, that period under Boris Johnson, what's now known as the Boris wave, was one of the biggest betrayals of the British people in our modern history."

Declaring that the Tories "cannot be trusted" to tackle immigration, the Reform MP concluded: "On illegal migration, ultimately, I was as angry and frustrated as everybody else.

"I fought against it, but when I couldn't persuade Rishi Sunak to act, I resigned and I went on to the backbenches.

I'm afraid, reluctantly, we've all come to the same conclusion you cannot trust the Conservative Party to fix immigration. That is why we need to rally behind Nigel Farage and Reform."