If elected, Nigel Farage has vowed to abolish the right to asylum for migrants arriving across the English Channel and to launch daily deportation flights. His Reform UK party is currently leading in the polls.

In an interview with The Times, Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, outlined plans for the mass expulsion of migrants who had reached Britain across the English Channel in small boats. If his party came to power, Mr. Farage said, Britain would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

He added that he would also seek agreements with countries such as Afghanistan to allow for the return of illegal migrants. Although Reform UK won just five seats in the 2024 election, it now leads in the polls measuring British voting intentions. Immigration is currently the number one issue in Britain.

Former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage set out plans for „mass deportations” of migrants who have crossed the English Channel on small boats if his Reform UK party forms Britain’s next government. https://t.co/Cyz0LLAmpb

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Farage to abolish right to asylum

Mr. Farage also told the paper that, if he wins, he would abolish both the right to asylum and the right of appeal against deportation for those arriving by small boat. Citing a national emergency, he said he would replace existing human-rights laws and press for Britain to withdraw from international asylum conventions.

“These laws are designed for mass deportation,”

– Mr. Farage stressed.

The Brexit campaigner said in the interview that he would build facilities at airbases to house 24,000 migrants and launch five deportation flights a day. If this could not be achieved, asylum seekers would be detained on Ascension Island, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic. Mr. Farage said the move would be intended as a symbolic message.

“We can be nice to people, we can be nice to other countries, or we can be very tough with other countries. President Donald Trump has shown this absolutely clearly,”

– he emphasized.

Last year, 37,000 people – mainly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Vietnam and Eritrea – crossed the English Channel from France to Britain in dinghies and small boats. The figure was a quarter higher than in 2023, and accounted for 9 percent of net migration. According to analysis by Oxford University, around two-thirds of the asylum applications submitted by those arriving by small boat are approved. To date, only 3 percent have been deported.