Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform party and the figure known as the chief architect of Brexit, has announced a harsh program on asylum: if he reaches power, he promises to completely halt the asylum claims system in Britain and send 90,000 applicants out of the country.
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According to his dossier, a “national security emergency” would be declared immediately, which would lead to the suspension of all asylum courts and tribunals. At the same time, legal routes for refugee entry into Britain would be closed, including long-term resettlement programs with legal status for EU citizens.
In practice, this extreme policy would mean that tens of thousands of people would be sent without delay to the countries they came from or to other states, while every person who has gained asylum status over the last five years would be subject to a re-check by the Home Office.
The program, which “Reform” has christened “Restoring Justice”, completely rules out the possibility of permanent settlement in Britain for refugees, offering them only humanitarian protection.
The main difficulty of such a plan lies in the willingness of the countries of origin to take back their citizens – almost none accepts returns, with the exception of a few rare cases, which include Albania, thanks to the 2022 agreement between Edi Rama and Rishi Sunak.
The financial question also remains unanswered: it has not been revealed how much the repatriation operations by aircraft over long distances would cost. An equally big enigma remains how new arrivals by dinghies from France across the English Channel could be halted.
On the other hand, Farage’s party ranks second in the polls, behind Labour and ahead of the Conservatives. It is preparing intensively for early elections in May 2027, although only Prime Minister Andy Burnham has the exclusive right to announce their date and so far has given no such signal.
Similar plans, though not so radical, have been presented to the British before. For “Reform”, the first task remains climbing to power in an electoral system that does not favor it, and only afterwards the implementation of these ambitious goals, which according to critics are simply unworkable.
