British citizens would be given priority over foreigners under Nigel Farage’s proposals to abolish the Human Rights Act, according to one of Reform UK’s top chiefs.
Mr Farage is set to announce plans that would allow the arrest, detention, and deportation of hundreds of thousands of people arriving in the UK by small boats on Tuesday.
The proposals would see the UK formally withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and other international treaties.
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British citizens would be given priority over foreigners under Nigel Farage’s proposals to abolish the Human Rights Act, according to one of Reform UK’s top figures
|Getty
The Human Rights Act, which incorporates the convention into UK law, would be replaced with a British Bill of Rights applying only to British citizens and those legally entitled to reside in the country.
The new legislation would avoid explicit references to “human rights,” instead using terms such as protection of liberty and free speech.
Zia Yusuf, head of the Reform UK Department of Government Efficiency, said: “It will have nothing in it to help activist judges to stop flights taking off.
“It will prioritise the rights of British citizens over foreign ones. We are not going to flinch. We’re not going to be intimidated. We are going to deliver for the British people. It’s the only way to restore this country. To stop the invasion from happening.”
Mr Farage said the bill of rights would enshrine “the freedom to do everything, unless there’s a law that says you can’t.”
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He added: “The opposite to that is the concept of human rights, which are state given. We have got academics working on it. There is a huge amount to do.”
Under these plans, people arriving in the UK would have no entitlement to claim asylum and would instead be detained at facilities established on disused military bases.
Reform UK intends to negotiate agreements with major countries of origin for asylum seekers, such as Afghanistan and Eritrea, despite concerns about their human rights records.
There would also be a “fallback” option of transferring people to British Overseas Territories, including Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
The party plans to pursue arrangements with third countries, including Rwanda and Albania, for individuals who cannot be returned to their countries of origin.
Farage described a “carrot and stick” approach, giving a six-month window for voluntary return, with £2,500 and the cost of the flight covered by the Government.
The party also intends to develop a “deportation app” to allow migrants to “self-deport.”
Reform claims the approach will cost £10 billion but eventually save the Government money. However, there are significant questions about its feasibility, legality, and cost.
Migrants arriving in Kent earlier this year
| PAYusuf said: “It’s a huge undertaking. We think it’s absolutely necessary. The country is in a state when it has totally lost control of its borders.
“The British people have had more than enough. It’s a national security emergency. It’s also a fiscal emergency. If you take the cost of accommodation and the cost of asylum seekers you get to north of £7 billion. This has to be done. It has to work. This is a pretty transformative legal reset we’re doing here.”
He claimed the arrival of small boats in the UK would stop “immediately.”
Angela Eagle, Labour’s border security minister, commented: “Nigel Farage is simply plucking numbers out of the air, another pie in the sky policy from a party that will say anything for a headline.
“We are getting a grip of the broken asylum system. Making sure those with no right to be here are removed or deported.”
Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, added: “This big reveal is just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced.
“Nigel Farage previously claimed mass deportations were impossible, and now he says it’s his policy,” Philp said. “Who knows what he’ll say next.”